Projects, Lessons, Lost & Found (A Sequel)
by IAmAutumnDawn
Summary: Life goes on for Bella, Edward and the rest of the band after the record executives leave...but every happy ending is just the beginning of a new and more complex story. Written from Edward's point of view, this story picks up where Projects, Lessons & Love Songs leaves off. Warning: Unbeta'd Work
1. Humbling

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I'm the one responsible for the rest of this crap.**_

**Warning:**_**Let's start this off with a "bang", shall we?**_

**Approx:**_**12 Pages/**____**5,967 Words**_

**Chapter 1: Humbling**

Tree limbs scratched at my face as I chased after her – my lungs burning with the exertion. Her hair fanned out after her as she ran, flipping back and forth each time she'd dare to glance behind her to judge how close I was. Each time she'd catch my eye, her eyes would open wider in fright and I'd smile, loving the advantage I had over her. She'd lean against a tree to gain leverage and push forward excitedly.

She was so petite – her feet landed between the roots of the forest so much better than mine did, and she flitted just beneath the lower hanging branches without any trouble. But, she was no athlete, and my prey lacked the same agility and prowess that was powering me behind her. Somehow, my large feet hit the forest floor more quietly – my long legs pushed me farther faster, quickly making up for her advantages.

As I gained on her, I pivoted slightly right, abandoning my chase and running a parallel course alongside her so that I could take her in: just watching the way her little body moved; study the concentration and exertion on her face. I lagged a little – the cat watching the mouse with eager fascination. Once I pounced on her, I was going to devour her whole; there would be no way she could fight my hands off of her luscious body. The nearest people were over 100 feet away, separated by thick woods and the sounds of a radio at full blast. The chase had only increased my appetite, my adrenaline and testosterone spiked so that my libido was at an all time high. My groin was slowly thickening at the thought of taking her, drawing our foreplay to a close.

Her doe eyes sought me out once more – a smile playing across her lips when she realized I was no longer on her tail. I stilled beside a tree, wanting to keep the element of surprise on my side, but it was too late – her mouth formed into a little "o" shape when she caught my movement - and I absorbed the delicious moment of panic that chased across her features before she spun on her heal to turn the opposite direction. However, my grace-challenged prey caught her toe on the root of a large tree, tripping her up so that she squealed as she flopped unceremoniously onto the forest floor.

I leapt into action, craving the finale to the chase. But, moments before I could pounce, she was back up on her feet and darting away from me. A flash of red alerted me to the fact that her hand was injured but, she took off before I could catch her. Her moxie surprised me, tripping me up as she maneuvered around a rather large tree. One moment she was there and the next, she was gone.

I righted myself, staring around the quiet forest, searching for some trace of where she could have gone. She was close…I could feel her nearness in my veins – taste her on my tongue. My groin swelled just a little more at the thought. I steadied myself, listening for her racing breath, goosebumps racing up my spine as I imagined that same sweet breath racing over my skin…

I needed to find her now.

I _needed_ her now.

I readjusted myself and focused back on the chase, something drawing my attention to the right. I watched as she peeked around a huge fir tree, hugging closely to it as she sought me out. Her hair was a riot; her cheeks flushed from the exertion.

Beautiful. Radiant. Breathtaking.

Her hand reached around the massive tree trunk, the flash of blood on her palm catching my eye, and I snarled as I sprung into action – pinning her to the tree as she screamed.

"So, you're not afraid of me, huh?" I asked, my lips easing into a cocky smile that I couldn't really help.

"Damn! I thought I'd lost you!" She laughed, slapping ineffectively at my chest.

"Never." I shook my head, leaning in to kiss her sweetly on the tip of her nose. "Now, what did you do to your hand? I can't believe you kept running after you took that fall – by that point, I was just trying to catch up to you and make sure you were okay."

"Aw, I was fine after I tripped. But, I did get a splinter in my hand-"

I stepped back, bringing her hand up between us so that I could inspect the damage. The splinter in the center of her tiny palm was about an inch long – the blood leaving a trail down one of her fingers. "Bella…why in the world-"

"Cuz I'm stubborn. And, I've always been a klutz, and that's no reason to just let you win." I cocked my head to the side and stared at her incredulously, making it clear that I thought it was a perfectly good reason to forfeit. "I'll live, Edward."

I knelt down in front of her to allow more sunlight in between us and so that I could more closely inspect her hand. It was obvious that she thought I was being overprotective, but she smiled at me anyway and it felt sincere. I cleared the flecks of dirt and debris away, careful to wipe them out and away from the wound. As far as splinters go, this was a rather large one. It wasn't the tiny fleck of wood you need a safety pin to exhume, but it wasn't going to require stitches either. Satisfied that her hand was as clean as I could get it, given the situation, I pinched my nails carefully around the other end and pulled the wood out. She winced and I applied pressure to the entry site, knowing that would ease the pain a bit.

"Let me have your bandana." I asked, nodding towards the fabric she had modeled into a makeshift headband while we were on the ATV's earlier.

"Edward, I don't need-"

I looked up at her intensely with an expression that stopped any further argument. She removed the headband, her hair cascading down around her face and shoulders as my body urgently reminded me that it had other pressing needs.

I shook my head, focused on taking care of her first and tying the bandana around her hand. I looked back at her palm, turning it this way and that way in the rays of the sun, inspecting it thoroughly to ensure that there was nothing else left behind.

It grew increasingly hard to concentrate as the fingers of her other hand dove into the thickness of my hair, massaging my scalp. It took all of my strength not to start purring like some abandoned housecat, but her touch sent my libido racing – rational thought and gentle love could no longer keep it tamed.

I brought her injured hand up to my lips, once again looking up at her from beneath my lashes because I loved the reaction that always got from her. Sure enough, she bit her lip, her body arching towards me instinctually, exactly as I knew it would, and my dick stiffened entirely, the length unbearably tight, confined within my shorts. I welcomed the discomfort, though, because it kept me a little more clearheaded.

I didn't want to ravage her like some animal, taking only what I wanted. She was far too beautiful and wild when she was being loved properly…it was worth the wait to watch her squirm and moan and come undone around me.

Waiting for her…making her wet and ready for me…it was the sweetest kind of torture I had ever had the pleasure to experience.

Still on my knees, I released her hand and slipped my fingers around the back of her bare knees, slowly coaxing my way up her soft, tight thighs and onto her hips as I continued staring up at her. Under the intensity of her gaze, my chest grew heavy, making it difficult to breathe. My fingertips eased up under the hem of her shirt, grazing against the soft, perfect skin of her sides and back. The flat plane of her belly peeked out beneath her shirt as I raised it higher and my mouth literally watered with desire. I leaned forward, her skin erupting in goosebumps as my breath grazed the waistline of her denim shorts. I paused there – inhaling that sweet strawberry and cream scent – simply driving her crazy with anticipation. She rubbed her thighs together anxiously, her back arching, as she whimpered with need.

The sound went straight to my cock and I leaned my forehead lightly against her, struggling to keep a cap on my own raging desires.

She trembled, leaning back against the tree as her fingers tightened their grip on my hair.

My tongue peeked out, tracing along the waist band of her shorts, drawing out the teasing as long as possible. The warm summer breeze blew against my heated face as I kissed the sensitive skin just above her belly button and then peppered kisses to the side before nipping at her hip bone. Her hips instinctively thrust forward in response, and I growled low in my throat as my dick strained against my shorts. I wanted to drive her crazy, but I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to hold out.

My fingertips raced over her skin as they met in the middle and began fumbling with the button on her shorts. I watched as her eyes shot open, her hands stilling mine as her eyes darted around the forest nervously.

I kissed her fingers softly and brushed my stubbled cheek across her knuckles before looking up into her eyes with a fiery intention that I knew she couldn't deny. She stared down at me, seeming to recall something as she calmed and released me – both of her hands diving into my hair, coaxing me on. I slipped the button through the hole and slowly slipped down her zipper – my hands trembling with anticipation.

With her shorts loose, I tugged them slowly down with one hand as my other hand raced up under her shirt, my fingertips easing the cup of her bikini top down until her hardened nipple slipped free. I rolled it a little gruffly between my fingertips as she gasped at the sensation, arching harder into my palm. I used the distraction to pull her pants farther off of her hips, my fingers reaching inside and slipping immediately between her clenched thighs.

I rubbed a finger over her engulfed clit as she pushed against me eagerly.

"That's right…move for me Bella." I coaxed as I slipped a finger deep inside of her.

She moaned, bending her knees slightly to slip further down my digit, her sex clenching deliciously tight around my finger. Her slick tightness translated immediately to my dick as I found my hips undulating instinctively, aching to be inside of her.

"Damn, you feel so good babe." I confessed, my voice reduced to gravel as I struggled to maintain control.

I turned my hand so that two of my fingers could stroke her on the inside while my thumb continued to stroke her on the out, quickly reducing her to a thrusting, quivering mass of unintelligible noises. Meanwhile, my other hand continued the assault on her breasts, loving the small weight of them - every once in a while rolling her nipple almost painfully between my fingertips and watching her go completely weak in the knees.

Her body was on auto pilot by now, undulating rhythmically, her hips pulsing against my hand as her eyes began rolling back into her head in pleasure. I mumbled expletives under my breath as I could feel the tension building in my neck and shoulders.

Her cheeks were red and dewy with perspiration, her hair a mess of mahogany waves with red highlights where touched by the sun. Her shirt was pulled up to her shoulders by now – both cups of her bikini pulled down so that I could watch one fair mound bounce with her undulations while the other breast was dwarfed by my too-large hands – the bright pink nipple peeking out from between my fingers. Her lips pursed – so rosy and kissable – as she oohed and aahhed under my ministrations.

I wanted those lips. I wanted them pressed against my lips…I wanted them tracing sensual trails down my body…I wanted them wrapped around my cock as those chocolate brown eyes of hers stared up at me in complete and utter love and adoration.

"Fuck, Bella…you look so beautiful right now." As usual, my words pushed her ever closer to climax.

"Fuck, Edward…._fuuuuck…_" She moaned, her pussy clamping down deliciously as my fingers became more rushed.

The desperation…the slick tightness…it triggered something in me and I lost control, a growl rumbling from deep within my chest. It was a guttural noise that was so primal that her eyes opened wide as she stared down into my flushed face. She yelped as I withdrew my hands, so close to her climax that losing my touch must have been a shock to her over-excited senses. Trembling hands and shaky fingers struggled with my belt buckle as I rose up in front of her. She shimmied her shorts off, anticipating my needs and a moment later, I was finally buried inside her – her back pressed against the tree as I drove balls deep, her lips crashing against mine passionately.

She quickly came undone around me but I barely noticed as I continued to plunge into her. She closed her eyes, allowing me to take over completely as I picked her up, wrapping her legs around my hips. She settled back into her body and soon, she had caught back up with me – her fingers fisting my shirt as I pulsed inside of her. My breath was ragged and rushed, my face flushed and slick as my brows furrowed in intense concentration.

My body seized, muscles tensing spasmodically as Bella's body stiffened against mine. Within a few moments, I relaxed completely, my body becoming heavier, pinning her against the tree - my breath ragged against her ear. I wanted to get my weight off of her, but for the time being, my limbs were jelly, making it nearly impossible to support my own weight. I shivered as she wrapped her arms around me, cradling my head against her chest and whispering kisses against my hair.

Eventually I regained my strength, rising up and kissing her sweetly on the forehead before we both focused on straightening out our clothes.

"Wanna go for a swim?" I crooned from behind her, my lips tracing her ear and jaw as I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"Not yet." She purred as she backed into my embrace, her head lolling back against my shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, rocking her side to side as I continued to lazily tease at her jaw and neck.

She sighed, her hands running down my forearms until our fingers were interlocked, two sets of arms circling her petite body. "I'm happy."

I hummed against her ear. "Mmm…I'm happy that you're happy." She turned her face towards mine and I immediately answered her unspoken question with a deep, sweet kiss; a gentle dance of tongues. "Go for a walk with me?"

Her smile was answer enough.

We walked silently at first, just strolling hand in hand, admiring the wildlife and quietly enjoying one another's company.

We had met and fallen in love with a dozen pendulums above our heads. Now that life had taken a turn for the better, I tried to make a point of just appreciating her company – taking a step back to really get to know one another and to truly come to fall in love the way that most couple do. Bella deserved that – and I wanted to give her everything.

"What do you want?" She asked suddenly.

"Hm?" I hummed, drawn out of my own private thoughts. "What do you mean?"

We walked a bit further as I considered it.

"Sorry, it's been a while since I've really thought about it." I finally spoke as we approached a fallen tree, pausing to pick her up and seat her on it before hopping up to join her. "I used to want to be a musician when I was younger but, by high school, I just sort of accepted that that wasn't a legitimate route."

"Why not?"

"Well, I mean, I can play, but I'm not a prodigy or anything. I just sort of did the math…how many people _want_ to be musicians and how many people actually earn enough money doing it that they can live off of it, ya know? The odds weren't really in my favor so it just seemed kind of unrealistic." I held her hand in mine, staring down at it, tracing her fingertips as if I was studying them closely.

"Is that what you think of us? You think we don't stand a chance?" She asked, her voice sounding small.

I couldn't afford to pause and think this one through. "That's different. _You're_ different. You have stage presence and talent and heart. All of you…you're willing to struggle for it. You have a story and supporters and fans. I was just a piano player – there are a million other guys like me. Besides…had I known you back then, maybe I would have been more optimistic. You sort of bring that out in me, I think. I…I get stuck in my head sometimes. Overthink things. Doubt myself. But you…you make me want to try things I would have otherwise given up on."

She seemed to mull my answer and, once satisfied, continued.

"So, after?"

"After what?"

"After you gave up on the idea of being a musician," She clarified, "what did you want to do then?"

I sat up, leaning back just a little and putting my arm around her. "Well, after that, I guess I focused more on being realistic than worrying about what I _wanted_ to do. I considered going into law like my dad and Phil. I mean, if I took that route, I'd be pretty much covered either way. Between the two of them, I'd be guaranteed a job straight out of college."

"What happened after High School?"

I straddled the fallen log, scooting forward and pulling her close. "I was attending college in Seattle and, when my brother and his wife got pregnant, my parents decided to move out there as we-"

She pulled away, looking up into my face so that I could see her absolute shock as she slapped my shoulder. "You never told me you had a brother!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, first of all – you hit like a girl." I teased as she slapped playfully at me one more time before slinking her arms around my waist and burying her face against my chest. The gesture made me feel ten feet tall – in that moment, my arms may as well have been a fortress around her tiny, perfect body. I brushed her hair back from her face before resuming. "Secondly, you never asked." With her arms wrapped around me, she used the opportunity to swat me on the ass this time, creating just the slightest stir in my pants. I chuckled in response. "I guess we still have a lot to learn about one another."

"So, tell me about him! What's his name? How old is he? Why is he in Seattle?" She asked eagerly.

I laughed at her overzealousness. "His name is Masen, after my mom's maiden name. She wanted to pass it on somehow, so they agreed on it as a first name. He's about four years older than me. He accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Washington – and that's where he met Kate. After they graduated, he got a job in Seattle, so they just settled down there. About a year later, they had J.R. and that's when my parents moved."

"What does J.R. stand for?"

"Junior." I laughed at her confused expression. "To respect my mom's wishes, he was named after Masen, but Katie refused to have a 'Junior' in the house." I chuckled. "My brother originally suggested 'Mini-Me', but Kate wasn't having any of it. So, they compromised and shortened Junior to just J.R."

"Oh my God – I mean, I'd wondered about your parents, but I never imagined you had a sibling."

I smirked.

"And what about college. Did you graduate?"

I rubbed at the back of my neck awkwardly as the barrage of memories assaulted me. "I had to work, so I couldn't go full time. I was just about finished with my Associate's when Bree started getting sick." I sighed, running my hand through her hair, seeking its comfort. "So I moved back here and tried taking online courses at first, but I was having too much trouble focusing. That was when Phil put me on the payroll and, well, I guess you know what happened from there."

I had told her about growing up with Bree and the Tanners and she knew all about the faked marriage and the insurance fraud, but I hadn't realized how many holes there were in the story.

My mind wandered to the family I hadn't seen in about a year's time. Masen got his bulk from the men on my mother's side, but in every other way, he was my father's son. From the dark hair, tanned complexion and blue eyes, to his love of sports, Masen was the boy my father had dreamed of. Meanwhile, I took after my mom in almost every way. I had her copper hair, her green eyes, her love of music and her appreciation for art. Nobody knows why I was so scrawny growing up; whereas Masen could blink twice and develop a six pack, diet and exercise always just made me skinny. My father used to tease that I was the postman's son. I think that may be why Masen and I were never as close as we could have been…there was sort of an unspoken rivalry for my father's attention. But, things weren't that bad, I suppose. Instead of fighting with him or crying about it, I had just tagged after my mother. Eventually, Renee and Phil came into my life and I became the son they'd never had.

It all worked out for the best and, despite everything, I can't really say that I have any hard feelings. I think we all got what we needed in the end.

"Why didn't they come to Bree's funeral?" She asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Well, Masen is seven years older than Bree, so she was never more than just some girl who grew up in the neighborhood to him. Dad was working on a case at the time and mom…well, I think she felt too guilty for not being there for Renee. She actually told me she was too embarrassed to come, if that makes any sense."

Bella nodded sullenly.

"Can I meet them?"

"Who, my brother?"

"All of them!" She said excitedly, sitting up straight and looking into my eyes intently. "Your parents. Your brother and sister-in-law. Your nephew."

"You'd want that?" I asked, bewildered by the turn in conversation.

"Of course!" She beamed. "I mean, it obviously makes me nervous – I'd want them to like me and everything – but, I want to know everything there is about you."

"I'd love you to meet my family." I smiled, easily coming to grips with the idea.

I swept her up into my arms, squeezing her against my chest in a solid embrace – simply holding her and rocking her in absolute happiness before pulling back, caressing her hair and looking into her face affectionately. "And, you have nothing to worry about. They'd love you, Bella. They wouldn't have any other choice."

She bit her lip as I stared into her eyes – so bright and excited – and I tried to relish the fact that I was capable of so much love and happiness.

That was when her phone buzzed, alerting her of a text message. As she reached into her back pocket to retrieve her cell, my phone chimed with a text message of my own. Then, before either of us could unlock our screens, her cell chimed with a second text message.

"Who is it?" I asked, pulling my phone from my back pocket.

"Who do you think?" she replied dryly, reading her texts. "Alice told us to have fun."

"Mine was from Jasper telling us to hurry up. Apparently, Emmet's already eaten half of the potato chips and one of our sandwiches." I gave her one of my idiotic, crooked smiles that she seemed to find endearing.

"Rosie said, and I quote 'Geez, you've had the apartment to yourselves all weekend, Nympho!"

I looked down as my phone chimed in my hands, and then burst out laughing. Unable to speak clearly, I handed her my phone so that she could read Jasper's text message. "Fee, fie, foe, fum. I smell Edward and Bella's cum." Before she had finished reading, the phone chimed again with another message. "Ignore that. Emmet hacked me. I would never say anything that disgusting."

"C'mon, let's get going before they send a search party." I smiled, taking my phone from her hand and slipping it back into my rear pocket. I looked at her affectionately before smoothing her hair and sweetly kissing her forehead. "I love you."

The sentiment made her purr and curl in on herself contentedly like a cat waiting to be petted. "I love you more." She smiled back before letting me lead the way.

"Last one in's a rotten egg!" Emmet shouted before cannon balling into the middle of the serene lake.

Bella and I hadn't even reached the group before the buffoon resurfaced with a big, cheesy grin.

It was the first time all summer that we all had an opportunity to take advantage of the warm weather; since it was Labor Day, Jasper and Rosalie didn't have any school and the boutique Alice worked for was closed – as was the sporting goods store that Emmet worked for. Bella was the only one scheduled to work and even she wasn't expected until closer to five o'clock.

After our hectic weekend, we chose to bypass the crowds that would be flocking to First and Second Beach and instead followed Emmet to a small lake out in the woods, where we suspected we'd have the place all to ourselves.

So far, we appeared to be right.

I paused at the opening to the clearance and kissed Bella on the cheek before wandering over towards Rosalie to inspect what was left of our snack supply.

"So, what's the damage report?" I asked, grabbing a beer from the cooler before scouring through the basket.

Rosalie sighed, tipping back her bottle and taking a swig. "There are three sandwiches left and one bag of chips that I managed to hide from him. Plus, of course, all of the fruits and veggies are untouched because that man hasn't eaten a healthy thing in years."

"Emmet! I can't believe you singlehandedly left us with this carnage!" I hollered out to the oaf.

"It's your own damn faults! You know I have an appetite! Should have brought more damn food!" He shouted back before diving under the crystal clear water.

"Jackass." Rosalie muttered before taking another sip of her beer. I chuckled at the disgruntled woman. Her near-constant state of grumpiness amidst this group of happy campers always amused me. "No worries, Ed…Bella's bag has back-up sandwiches and chocolate. We just have to wait for a bear to attack my man so that he'll be distracted." She finished her beer, tossing it beside the cooler before laying back and soaking in the sun that was peeking through the cloud cover.

Having just delivered two bottles of Smirnoff Ice to our girls, Jasper strutted back to the picnic blanket just in time to catch Rosalie griping. "I told you, sis – they're more afraid of us than we are of them. With the radio and all the other noise we're making, there's no way a bear would come this close." He plopped down beside me unceremoniously before clinking his bottle against mine and taking a swig.

"But still, one can only hope, brother-dear." She snided, laying back in the rays of the sun before throwing an arm over her face to shield her eyes.

"She's one hell of a catch, my sister. Sure you want to hang on to Bella when you could get you some of that?" Jazz teased.

"Edward wishes he was man enough to handle me." She joked.

"You're right, you're too much man for me, Rosalie." I chuckled back. She moved her arm to glare at me just in time to see Jazz clink our bottles together one more time and raise his Smirnoff in the air in my honor. As a general rule of thumb, I didn't zing Rose because she was the only one in the group that I had a hard time gauging…and, I still hadn't forgotten that she had been the only one opposed to Bella getting together with me. But the curse had slipped past my lips before I had the conscious mind to stop myself.

I swallowed through Rosalie's glare, until she fought back a smile, gave me a wink and resumed sun-bathing. It was only then that I released a breath I hadn't been aware I was holding.

"Aw, c'mon! Am I seriously going to be the only one swimming? What the hell are you guys waiting for?" Emmet called, splashing water towards us, as if he could possibly get us wet from the middle of the lake.

"You're not supposed to swim for an hour after eating!" Rosalie shouted out to him without as much as sitting up. "Dumbass." She mumbled under her breath. "If he gets a cramp, one of you will have to save him, because I give up."

"PMS." Jasper whispered to me before shivering in fear.

I was sitting on the corner of the blanket, my legs bent at the knees and spread apart slightly, one arm casually draped over one knee with my bottle in hand. I caught Bella from the corner of my eye and turned in time to see her moving across the field toward me. The grassy ground was uneven, accentuating the sway of her walk. Her denim cut-offs hugged her thighs, the waist riding low on her hips so that I could see the straps of her bikini bottoms peeking out. She had unbuttoned her plaid shirt so that it hung loosely over her shoulders now, her red, polka-dot bikini top bouncing with every step.

It had been less than an hour since I had taken her against that tree and yet, watching her walk towards me…her hair loose and blowing with the breeze…my pants grew unbearably tight in the crotch and it took all of my will power not to readjust obviously.

_Mine. All mine._

For all of my talk of taking a step back and getting to really know and appreciate each other, every day I seemed to be fighting an ever losing battle to make that damned girl mine forever. To mark her, label her and tell the whole damned world to back off.

She stepped in front of me, the denim barely hugging the curve of her ass as she slowly stooped down in front of me, settling herself between my legs and backing up so that my erection was now pressed firmly between her ass cheeks. From behind, I could see her cheeks bunch up with her smile. She leaned back against me, turning her head and whispering "Well hello, Lover."

This girl was going to be the end of me. And knowing that she wanted it just as badly as I did only made me ache for her that much more.

"Don't get me wet! Emmet, no! I have to wear this back home! Stop!" Rosalie screamed, jumping up and racing off of the blanket as Emmet charged out of the water, chasing her with his arms wide open for a hug, dripping wet and laughing maniacally.

"I can't help it if I make you wet, baby! It's just part of my animal magnetism. I'm irresistible!" He laughed. "There's no use fighting it! You know you want this!"

Rosalie yelped as Emmet tackled her, taking her to the ground and kissing her all over – thoroughly soaking her in the process.

"Get off me, ya big oaf!" She laughed as they began to roll around.

I had been so caught up in Bella that I hadn't even noticed that Jasper was now stripped down to his swim trunks at the edge of the water. "Babe, ya coming?"

"Damn, have you _seen_ my man?" Alice asked at the edge of the blanket, shimmying out of her shorts.

"Oh, yes…that is some grade A man-meat right there." I teased in my best gay voice.

"Damn skippy!" Alice laughed, adjusting her bikini top. "And I'm gonna get me some of that!"

I couldn't help but smile as I watched her jiggle her way to the water – Jasper's hand reaching out toward her expectantly.

I wasn't sure if it was possible to love life any more than I did at that particular moment.

With Bree, everything had been falling apart. And, things had been bad for so very long with her that I had stopped even noticing that things were bad.

But now, I had an overabundance of terrific friends – this great, big circle of love and support. I hadn't realized how alone I had become or how isolated I had started to feel. I hadn't known I could feel so alone in a crowd, but it was true. Yet, everywhere I looked now I saw the love and friendship I had been missing. I had the band. I had Felix and the handful of people he had just brought into my life. I had Jacob and Billy and Bella's extended family on the Rez.

I had a purpose and – I crossed my fingers – a possible recording contract on the horizon. We'd only played for the different labels a couple of days ago. Who knew when we'd hear back from any of them…or _if_ we'd hear back from them at all. But, my skin tingled with this sense that there was something new for us…something huge on the horizon.

And then, the biggest and greatest change of all: Isabella Marie Swan. Sure, we had gone about things a bit ass-backwards but somehow, we had made it to this point.

Two months.

And, that's what the paradox was for me. My world had shifted on its axis. My earth didn't revolve around the sun anymore. It revolved around Bella and love and friendship and family and hope.

And yet, here I was in this magnificent little place and it appeared completely untouched. Lavender hued flowers swayed in the breeze amidst long strands of grass. The wind whispered through the leaves on the trees. The water was crystal clear, straight through to the bottom of the lake. None of the drama and changes that overwhelmed my life had touched this little piece of heaven on earth.

It was humbling.

**A/N:**_**It saddens me to inform you that the Volturi have captured my Beta, and they are holding her ransom for smut. But, as you know from our last foray together, lemons and limes cost reviews. So, if you miss my Beta as much as I do, hurry up with the reviews already so we can get this lemon train started!**_


	2. Better Than This

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. Then I took them, and hugged them and kissed them and loved them and twisted em up a little bit and shared them with you!**_

**Warning:**_** Sore neck? Tense Shoulders? How about a little rub down for your aches and pains…**_

**Approx:**_**9 Pages/**____**4,073 Words**_

**2 – Better Than This**

"Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!" Felix chanted as Max and I carried his dresser into their new apartment. Since Felix's break-up with Demetri, he was looking for a new place. Coincidentally, Max's lease was up, so the two decided to room together in a two bedroom apartment in Port Angeles – though it went without saying that they would _ultimately_ end up using only one of the two bedrooms.

"Felix. Seriously." Max rolled his eyes at the giant.

"No offense, but I was talking about Mr. Hottie McShirtless over there." Felix pointed at me, throwing in a lisp to push the gay stereotype home.

"Um, no offense? Is Edward the one you're moving in with?" Max asked.

"Well, strip off some clothes and we'll get this party started, babe!" Felix joked, lighting up. "Damn, where'd we pack the baby oil?"

"La la la la la la!" I shouted, unable to cover my ears without dropping my end of the drawers on my own feet.

Felix ran off to the moving van, hopefully to actually bring in some stuff and not to just search for some oil.

"You're pretty cool, you know that?" Max said, motioning to the room where we were taking the dresser.

I chuckled. "Why's that?"

"Helping two gay guys move in together…all while fighting off the flaming queen."

"I heard that." Felix boomed, lowering his voice to its lowest octave as he brought in an armchair by himself. "Better be careful, or the flaming queen might accidentally tear up your One Direction poster."

Max's jaw dropped open. "You wouldn't dare!"

Felix gave him a big, goofy smile. "Try me."

Max winked at him and blew him a kiss. "Still, you know what I mean. I grew up in the Bible Belt and there were two kinds of men there – the ones who were trying to pray the gay away, and the guys who beat them up for it. Even after living in Cali for a couple of years, I'm still getting used to the fact that there are guys like you who just don't seem to care."

"Um, where do you want this?" I asked, uncomfortable with the praise and hoping for an opportunity to put the damn dresser down already. Max tipped his chin towards a wall and I quickly angled myself for it.

"Aw…he's blushing! Look Max…isn't it cute the way it spreads all the way down his chest?" Felix joked, as he came in with a couple of large boxes stacked one on top of the other.

Once the dresser was in place, I laughed, pulling my shirt out of my back pocket and using it to wipe off my face.

"I would apologize for him, ya know…but you sort of knew what you were in for before I did." Max whispered with a sideways grin.

"That's alright – I wouldn't want him to be any other way with me." I whispered back. "Besides, I like the attention. Definite ego boost." I laughed.

"Well, in that case…" Max started, pretending to flame up.

"Eh! One bromance at a time, please. I'm not looking for a threesome, thank you very much." I teased, pulling my shirt back on absentmindedly. "Hey, Sunshine! Think we could get some ice water?"

Felix gave me a dirty look before instantly perking up. "Oh okay…but only cuz you're flirting back, hot stuff!"

We were a little ahead of schedule – I had offered to help load up the moving van while the band was rehearsing, but they assumed they'd be done in time to help us unload.

We were just about done unloading Max's belonging when the Jeep drove up with five overenthusiastic band members inside.

"Baby, you look so tired! I'm sorry we're late but it's Alice's fault!" Bella crooned, climbing out of the back as quickly as she could and running over to me.

I try really hard to be a gentleman but the truth of the matter – I love the way girls jiggle. I could watch my girl bounce over to me twenty times a day and never get tired of it.

She bounded over, throwing her arms around my neck and – even though I felt it pull something in my lower back – there was no way I was putting her back down until she demanded it. God, the feel of her in my arms…I never knew something could feel so right; so complete.

"If she knew how sore we were right now, there is no way she'd be clinging to you like that." Max chuffed.

And just like that, she was out of my arms, her hands cupping my face as she stared up into my eyes with love and apologies and concern. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think." She apologized, biting her lip in that cute way that never ceased to turn me on.

She slinked her arms around my midsection, hugging me tentatively, as if she were strong enough to actually hurt me if she squeezed. I let her know so by embracing her tightly, molding her soft curves to my body and inhaling her through my skin.

"Oh." She whispered, her eyes lighting up as she registered my body's reaction. "Later, I'll give you a rub down." My lips pulled up into my sloppy, crooked smile, and she swatted me on the arm. "I mean a _real_ rub down, naughty boy." I pouted at her, loving the way her blush colored her cheeks. "Okay, maybe one of those, too."

Everyone expected Demetri to be an ass when we arrived to pick up the rest of Felix's things, so Felix, Jasper, Emmet and I all went to load up the truck. Of course, Bella attempted to insist that she come along, but Max begged her and the girls to stay back and help him unpack. She didn't seem too happy about it, but the loading van was already occupied to capacity with us four guys, so she finally caved in, hugging Felix tightly and sending me off with a deep kiss.

With the moving van between us and the others, I allowed my hands to drift down her back, gripping her little ass and pulling her against me, shamelessly rubbing myself against her heat and allowing my lips to trail down her jaw and neck, nipping lightly at her throat.

"Edward!" She whispered with a mix of scolding and desire.

"Soon." I whispered back, kissing her forehead and smacking her ass before hopping up into the cab of the van.

I watched her watching me in the side view mirror as we pulled away, her hip jutted out, her arms crossed over her breasts and that luscious bottom lip of hers between her teeth.

Damn, I had it bad.

At Felix's old apartment, things didn't go exactly as planned. First off, Demetri met us on the front porch with tears in his eyes.

"Oh, what the hell!" Emmet cursed as the van pulled to a stop.

"Let me talk to him for a minute, okay?" Felix asked, staring at each of us and waiting for an answer.

"Fee – are you sure that's a good idea? He's put you through this before and you've always gone back." I asked, a knot forming in my neck just looking at the douchebag.

"Yeah, but I didn't have hope that there was someone like Max out there last time. I've been with him a long time…I owe this to him." Felix answered, appearing sure and confident.

"You don't owe that asshole anything." Emmet harrumphed.

"We'll wait behind the van to give you some privacy." Jasper spoke, answering for all of us.

"Thanks." Felix slipped out of the cab with a meaningful look to all of us, and we each slid out in turn, making our way around to the back of the van, opening up the gate and just sitting on the edge, waiting for instructions.

I couldn't stand waiting, so I looked back every once in a while but – from what I could see – there was no yelling or shouting, no anger, rage or attitude. Instead, if they weren't speaking calmly to one another, then Demetri was in tears. But, about fifteen minutes later, I heard a car door close and watched as Demetri pulled out, staring back tearfully before heading down the street and disappearing around the corner.

"So, what's the deal?" Emmet asked as Felix rounded the back of the van.

"Ultimately, he's not gonna stand in my way, but he doesn't want to stick around and watch, either. When we're done, I'll leave my key on the kitchen counter and lock the door from the inside." Felix explained.

"So, that's it?" Jasper asked warily.

Felix shrugged with a sigh. "That's it."

It was silent and still between us for a moment longer before Felix whooped and scared the shit out of all of us.

"What the hell, Fifi?!" Emmet shouted.

Felix cracked up laughing. "I'm sorry, it's just…I thought I'd be miserable and I'm not! I mean, _fuck that!_" He put so much emphasis on the curse that the rest of us started laughing too. "Now, let's get my shit and get the hell out of here!"

True to his word, Demetri didn't come home at all during the hour and a half it took us to load Felix's belongings. It wasn't really hard labor – Felix just hadn't had a chance to organize anything before we came. He left most of the furniture - as Max was almost able to furnish the entire new apartment - and just took some odd pieces here and there, his clothing and other personals.

With Emmet tying down the last of the items and Jasper pulling down the gate, I stood in the kitchen with Felix as he stared around the apartment one last time.

"We were together over two years." Felix whispered, his eyes just staring around the space. "We lived here the last year and a half."

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked, clamping a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded. "I know it's for the best. It feels right. It's just sad to have wasted so much time on something that was never meant to last. You know Max and I aren't going to be roommates for long, right?" He asked, finally glancing down at me.

I chuckled. "We may or may not have a pool going as to how long that will last before you two finally hook up."

His laugh echoed in the room. "I want to take it slow. I don't want to be that person that rushes from one relationship directly into another but then…I've just never felt this hopeful before. It's like, Demetri was my James and maybe…just maybe…Max will be my Edward."

I blushed, uncomfortable with the attention and praise. "Felix, I'm nothing special-"

"My Bella, then." He interrupted. "Maybe Max will be my Bella."

Suddenly, I understood what he was saying, and I couldn't disagree.

"Everyone deserves a Bella." I answered with a smile.

With that, I watched the big oaf twist his key off his key ring, place it flat onto the counter and head out the door without another look back.

Max ordered some pizza just as we finished unloading the last of Felix's things, granting us just enough time to eat before Bella and Alice had to run off for their shifts. Since we were already in Port Angeles, I just let Bella take my car and rode back with the others in Emmet's Jeep.

Tired and sore, I stretched out on our bed with Bella's laptop, lazily looking up information on the recording industry and trying to find ways that I might be able to better the band's chances of getting a contract.

I was just on the edge of an idea when sleep consumed me, dragging me under…

I awoke to the feel of sweet, gentle kisses on my neck and cheek. "Still want that rub down?" She crooned in my ear as her hands wandered beneath my shirt, kneading at my tired back. I moaned, instantly aware of the stiffness of my cock as it pushed against the mattress.

I'd be damned if she wasn't some kind of siren.

"Take your shirt off." She husked, disappearing to fumble around in her nightstand.

Without getting up, I closed her laptop and reached over to put it on my nightstand and then lazily pulled my shirt up to my shoulders, peeling it off and letting it drop to the floor beside the bed. A second later, she was straddling my ass – her heat penetrating through my shorts and bathing me in warmth. I swear I moaned again just thinking about her.

She leaned forward, her tiny, lotioned hands gripping my shoulders and squeezing, working the tension out from my neck and down my arms. I had to give it to her – for someone as small as she was, she had a pretty strong grip, getting down to even the tightest of knots along my sides. Her hands pushed and pulled and prodded further down my back and I was absolutely torn between wanting to fall back to sleep and wanting not to miss a single thing she did to me.

Next, she had this blissful technique where she balled her hands into fists and sort of rolled them up and down my spine and along my shoulder blades. Not only did it have the wonderful benefits of a meat tenderizer, but the motion made her body move in the most delightful of ways…her hips pulsing up and down against my ass as her breasts occasionally dipped down to caress my back.

That did it…now sleep was definitely the farthest thing from my mind.

A moment later, she let me know that she had no intentions of falling asleep either.

She paused her ministrations momentarily and a minute later, her naked chest was pressed deliriously up against my back, her hardened nipples evident against my relaxed skin.

I growled as her hands threaded into my hair, massaging and scratching my scalp euphorically. Her lips came down, meeting with my flesh as she brushed sweet kisses along the expanse of my shoulders, on the back of my neck, nipping and sucking at my jaw and earlobe as I instinctively ground my hips against the mattress.

She moaned in my ear, taking my earlobe between her teeth and biting down a little harder as she pulled slightly at my hair, squeezing her thighs around me as I bucked harder against the bed, desperately needing the friction.

"Do you know how easily I could ride you like this? How delicious your ass feels pressed up against me?" She husked in my ear as I growled in response. "In fact…" She slipped off of me and I instantly missed her. I turned to see where she was going. "Tsk-tsk-tsk." I turned back around, loving it when she was in control like this.

_Demanding. Teasing. Naughty._

She shook me from my thoughts as her hands gripped the waistband of my shorts and underwear, briskly pulling them down my legs. "A little help, please?" She asked as I rocked and moved, helping her to peel them off. Yet, as I attempted to roll over once again, she tsk'd at me once more. "No, no. I want you just like this."

I growled, loudly, sure that pre-cum was already glistening between my cock and the poor mattress just from the way she was driving me crazy.

She licked and kissed her way up the back of my legs, surprising the hell out of me when she smacked my ass. I had never thought about anything like that…but I had to admit that it was hot.

_Really fucking hot._

She continued licking and kissing her way up my spine as she crawled on top of me, settling herself astride my ass once more – her moist heat naked and exposed against me as I whimpered because I was facing the wrong damn way! What the hell was she trying to do to me?

"I want to try something." She said, grinding her hips against me. "Remember how hard it was for me to orgasm when I first met you." She asked, nipping at my shoulder.

"Yes." I gasped, resting my forehead against my arm as I struggled to maintain my sanity.

"You've changed me, Baby. You've made me so much better now. See, I have a theory." She teased, scratching her nails down my back, all the way to my ass.

I mumbled a curse. "What's that?" I managed to ask.

"I think that you've taught me so well, that I can cum without you touching me, now. In fact, I bet just thinking about you and touching you without touching myself…I bet that alone would be enough to make me cum for you now." I growled into the sheets. "What do you say we try a little experiment?" She asked, grinding her hips against me.

I bit down on my own damn arm. "Bella, you're driving me crazy." I husked. She slapped my ass and ground her hips against me again.

"I wonder if I can come without you even having to say a word. Let's see…" She said, gripping my hair tightly as she ground against me once again. It was the most euphoric torture any man could ever endure. I could feel her – open, hot, wet, willing – sliding over my skin as her hips undulated against me. But I couldn't see her. Couldn't touch her. Couldn't feel her where I needed to feel her most.

I gave in to it. I succumbed. And she did as she promised. She rode me, pushed up against me, gyrated and kissed and bit and scratched and pulled until her thighs tightened around me and her motions grew chaotic.

I endured it…both loving and hating every minute of it at the same time until she collapsed onto the bed beside me, trembling and gasping. I turned onto my side just a bit so that I could wrap my arm around her and pull her close, her breasts still heaving as she came down from her high.

"That was not quite the rub down I expected." I whispered as I nuzzled my lips against her throat and jaw and ear. She gave me a lazy smile, cozying up closer beside me and wrapping her arms around me.

"I'm sorry…I'm not finished yet." She promised, but it was obvious that – for the moment – she was spent. And, although I was painfully horny, there was also a satisfaction in just holding her close…a satisfaction that begged me towards peaceful oblivion.

Within moments, I smiled as her breathing turned rhythmic – a contented little sigh on every exhale. So, I gave in to sleep – happy, despite my raging hard on.

I don't know how long we slept before Bella woke me up – unfinished, as promised.

"Bella, you don't have t-" I started, seconds before she took my entire length between her pretty lips and down her throat, successfully cutting my sentence short.

I could tell by the look in her eyes that she hadn't slept very long, yet her hair was wild and her eyes intense as she stared up at me from beneath those thick, dark lashes.

There is something so incredibly erotic about watching yourself disappear between a girl's luscious pink lips. About watching the way her cheeks hollow out around your length at the same exact time that you feel the suction she is creating around you. It may sound sacreligious, but that experience could help a man find God.

In all honesty, I hadn't been very experienced before meeting Bella. I had a high school sweetheart, and one girlfriend during my very brief stint in college. I had never asked for any favors, but both girls had done their best to do what I guess they thought was expected of them. I'm not going to say it was awful – but there was something missing. I had no interest in being a chore to them.

But Bella…my beautiful, sexy, sensual Bella…I swear that she enjoyed it just as much as I did, and that was so much incredibly hotter than some girl fulfilling what she thought was an obligation.

Just watching the way she closed her eyes as she pushed down my length…feeling the vibration of her moan as she took me in…even the subtle way that her lips turned up at the edges told me my girl loved doing this for me, and that made all the difference in the world.

And Bella was never lazy about it. Her hands massaged me, squeezed my thighs or scratched at my ass as she took me in. Her head didn't just bob up and down, her entire body swayed with the movement, rising up and down as I watched my length disappear and reappear between her lips. When her mouth would get tired, she'd rise up a bit, slipping my wet cock between her breasts and we'd both watch as the head would peek out between her perky, round, pale skin. I could always tell when she was getting into it again because she'd tease me by lapping at my head, or kissing me on the tip each time I'd emerge from between her breasts.

Although it might scare a lot of guys, she even had this way of getting her teeth ever-so-lightly involved. Just the very, very hint of a scrape of her teeth under my shaft and I could feel my balls tighten in response.

The only part where Bella and I differed was that she seemed determined to make me cum by fellatio alone.

It wasn't that she wasn't skilled – hell, I couldn't imagine anyone being better at a blow job than my girl. But, no matter how much she wanted it, I just couldn't allow myself to deface her that way. I wanted her in my arms when I came. I wanted to be buried deep inside her and wanted to chant her name and pepper her with kisses when I fell apart.

So, as my abdomen clenched and the sweat broke out across my forehead and my thighs tightened beneath her fingertips, Bella wordlessly climbed up my body and slid me home. I rolled over on top of her, bracing my weight on my elbows as I pushed her hair back from her pretty face and looked into her eyes.

I saw myself there…my future…everything I ever wanted in the deep chocolate brown of her eyes.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you, too." She reciprocated, taking my face in her hands and guiding my forehead against hers as my back and torso tensing, my balls and cock spasming deep inside of her.

I rolled over, lying beside her, taking advantage of my turn to tremble and gasp.

It was quiet for a moment, just as I was bordering on unconsciousness, when she asked "You would tell me, right? If there was anything I could do…better? Or…different?"

I shook my head to clear the haziness of sleep and rolled onto my side to look at her. "Huh?"

She shrugged, grabbing a pillow and hugging it against her chest. I recognized the gesture, it was a sign that she was thinking too much and making herself insecure.

"Babe…I wouldn't even know where to start? I mean, you do and think things that have never even occurred to me. Trust me…I couldn't be happier with the things you do for me." I answered, rubbing her arm and kissing her on the nose.

"But…if there was…you would tell me, right?" She looked at me – all signs of the naughty, in control temptress gone for the night. "I'd be willing to try anything once…if it was what you wanted. If it would make you feel good."

I rolled onto my back, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close till her chest was pressed against my side; her leg thrown haphazardly across my pelvis. "I know. But right now, the only thing that could possibly be better than what you just did for me," I left it open ended as she looked up into my eyes, "is if I could just fall asleep with you in my arms."

She beamed at me before pushing up to peck me quickly on the lips and snuggling tightly against my side.

Life just doesn't get any better than this.

**A/N:** _Once again, I apologize for the roughness of this work – not used to working without my beloved Beta by my side. It's a bit of a struggle. What do you think? How'm I doing so far?_


	3. Pussy

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I just did things to them that would make poor Stephenie Meyer blush…**_

**Warning:**_**No sex for you!**_

**Approx:**_**10 Pages/**____**4,297 Words**_

**3 - Pussy**

"Hellooo!" Felix welcomed us in his very best "Mrs. Doubtfire" impersonation as we walked in the door Saturday afternoon. "Sorry, I've never had a housewarming party before. I'm a little excited."

"Here Fifi, this is from me." Bella said excitedly, handing her gift over to him before we'd even entered the house.

"Aw, thanks Princess, but you're not supposed to buy us a gift if you helped us move!" He scolded.

"Nonsense. Isn't that what a housewarming is about? Making a house a home?" She asked, slipping past me to hug the big lug.

"Aw, thanks Princess. I'll put it with the other gifts-"

"Now!" Bella and I said in unison, our eyes going wide.

"Wha?" He asked, looking confused.

"You have to open it now." Bella stressed.

I chuckled at her and tried to soften the instruction. "I think she means it might be in your best interest if you open the gift now."

"Um…okay…" He cocked an eyebrow at us in suspicion, but reached inside the bag anyway. "Ben and Jerry's?" He asked, a goofy grin lighting up his face.

"They have three new flavors! And I mean…c'mon…_every_ home should have Ben and Jerry's in the freezer! Otherwise, what's the point of living there?" She asked excitedly.

"Princess, you crack me up!" He gave her a one armed hug before leading us inside to the kitchen. The party was early, as Felix and the rest of us had to be at the bar by five, so it was already rather crowded in the apartment.

Aside from the band, the only people I recognized were Tyler and his boyfriend Laurent, so I wandered over to say hi. I didn't recognize the guys they were talking to, but they were definitely playing for the same team.

"Hey Eddie!" Tyler greeted enthusiastically as I approached.

"Hey guys."

"This is Marcus and Alec. They're Max's friends." Laurent introduced.

I extended my hand. "Nice to meet you guys."

"Oh, come here handsome!" Alec squealed, pulling me in for a hug.

"Watch out, Alec. My gaydar is telling me we have an intruder." Marcus stage whispered.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, caught off guard and confused.

"Oh yeah, he's a hetero." Tyler laughed. "But don't worry, he's totally cool. He doesn't even mind that I groped his girlfriend's boobies before he did."

My head snapped to attention as all four guys cracked up laughing. "What are you talking about?"

I think Laurent sensed danger, because he took Tyler's drink out of his hand and mumbled something to him, but Tyler had already drank enough for loose lips.

"Oh, we never told you how Bella and I met?" Tyler asked.

"Ty, why don't we go-" Laurent wrapped his arm around Tyler's waist and attempted to steer him away, but Tyler was oblivious and, at this point, I was pretty damned curious.

"No, how did you two meet?" I asked.

Laurent gave up, downed Tyler's drink and wandered off for a refill.

"So, Laurent wanted me to come out, but I wasn't ready yet. Then, Demetri – Felix's ex? – well, he tells me there's this girl who sings for a band, and she's looking for a guy who's good in bed and suggests that maybe we could help each other out." Tyler slaps at my arm as he laughs. "So, I kiss her and get to second base before I admit that I have a boyfriend, and she stops me there, telling me '_I am not a gay test kit!'_ Isn't that hilarious? I love that line…" He continues to laugh as Marcus and Alec join in.

I wanted to laugh.

I wanted to be all light and relaxed and be perfectly okay that this happened, and that it was being discussed with strangers at a party, and that this was the way I was finding out…

But I wasn't.

This was my girlfriend, for Pete's sake.

I managed to chuckle for their benefit before excusing myself to step out onto the back patio.

I knew Bella had a history. I know what James did to her, I knew about Project Orgasm and I knew what she was going through when we met. I mean, Felix had a disclaimer memorized before I walked into the room! But…_I don't know…._

None of those guys had a face or a name.

They were smoke. Insubstantial. Insignificant. Wisps of shadowy air from her past.

Now, I couldn't get the image of Tyler…_gay_ Tyler…kissing my girlfriend. _With his hands_ on my girlfriend!

"Hey babe. What are you doing out here?" Bella asked, slipping out through the sliding glass doors and slinking her arm through mine.

"Just needed a minute." I said, unable to look at her. My eyes were beginning to water and it was pissing me off.

"What's wrong?" She stepped in front of me, looking up at me with worry in her eyes.

I shook my head, choosing to look down at my feet instead. Okay, maybe I was overreacting…but I just needed to sort it all out in my head. I wasn't mad. I was just…I just didn't want to know. And now, I couldn't un-know it. Was taking a few minutes for myself too much to ask?

"Gay test kit?" I asked, when she kept staring at me intently.

Her mouth formed a perfect "o" shape, but no sound escaped. "Tyler just told you?"

I gritted my teeth. "Me, Laurent and two other people I had just met."

There was silence as she processed this, probably trying to figure out what to say.

"Babe, I'm sorry…he's had a little too much to drink-" She started.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." I comforted her, but this other side of me realized that it was her fault. She had acted that way. She had taken him into her dressing room. She had taken a guy she just met and kissed him and let him touch her and…

Okay, so maybe I was mad.

"Edward, I-" She started, but I didn't want to talk about it. I just wanted a few minutes to figure out a way _not _to think about it. Not to have the image of his hands on her breasts branded into my skull.

"I think I'm gonna go home for a little while. I'm not feeling very well. I'll catch up with you at the bar later, okay?" I didn't wait for an answer, simply cupped the back of her head, kissed her forehead and headed for the door.

I got in the car and headed for home, doing my best not to think about it.

Not wanting to think about it.

But, it was the only thing I _could_ think about.

We had never really talked about it. I had never wanted to know. But now, unwanted questions and thoughts and doubts and insecurities flooded through me. The stretch of highway in front of me was of no use – every turn was haunted by another demon I didn't want to deal with.

I was being ridiculous. Everyone had a past. It's common sense. I mean, Bella had only had one relationship before me. What if she discovered I had had two? How would that make her feel, knowing that she was the third girl I had ever had feelings for?

But how many men had been in her bed? How many had kissed her lips before we ever met? How many had tasted her and touched her and…how many had been in that sacred place inside of her?!

I screamed inside the car, pulling to the side of the road and slamming my hand against the steering wheel, my thoughts and feelings and logic all at war with one another. Part of me begging to be rationale while my emotions raged on – angry and hurt and protective.

She was my girl. _My Bella._

How could she have ever been that hurt? How could she have ever felt _that worthless_ to just give herself over to these men?

I spun around and headed somewhere I had only ever been to once before.

The sky turned cloudy as I pulled up at a gas station. It only took a few moments before I stumbled back out with some flowers and a six pack of beer, jumped back into my car and headed the additional ten minutes to Ocean View Cemetery. I grabbed my jacket from the backseat, haphazardly threw my hood over my head and trudged through the pesky, drizzling rain to my best friend's grave.

"Heya, Bree." I whispered, sitting down on the lush grass beside her grave. In the three weeks since we'd buried her, the grass was just beginning to grow back through the dark soil, the earth blanketing her with greenery and tiny little flowers.

"I brought you some daisies. Sorry, I know they're from the gas station, and I know you deserve better but this was kind of a last minute trip." I shook my head. "Shit, that sounds even worse. I really am an ass, aren't I?"

Fuck, what the hell was I doing here? Three weeks in the grave and I hadn't stopped by with flowers even once. Yet, I found out I'm not the first guy my hot girlfriend has ever slept with and, like a baby, I go running to my best friend's grave site to moan about how unfair life is.

I popped open a beer and propped it up against her tombstone. "I'm sorry, Bree. I miss ya, kid." I opened a beer for myself and took a swig. "I know – I've drank beer twice this week. If I don't watch out, I'm going to get a beer belly, right? Dammit, I swear I can almost hear you saying that to me."

So, I spent the rest of the rainy afternoon lounging in the middle of a cemetery – the sound of the ocean nearby – just chatting with and catching up with my deceased childhood friend. I told her about performing for the record execs, and how worried I was about being a good manager for them. I told her about Bella and how backwards everything was with our relationship, but how I was still completely crazy about her. I told her that her mom and dad were hanging in there, though they missed her terribly.

I was honest – she would have called me on the crap if I hadn't been. I told her it was rough, but that life goes on. I told Bree that we felt guilty for a while because it hadn't taken as long as we thought it would. It wasn't that we didn't feel her loss…it was more that we had gotten a head start on our grieving during those long months sitting by her bedside in the hospital.

I like to think that she'd understand.

I wasn't sure how long I sat on the dewy grass beside my best friend's grave, but by the time I downed my third beer, the drizzling rain had completely soaked through my jeans and had somehow infiltrated through my jacket. It was all worth it, though. Talking to Bree had done what it always had for me – it had put things into perspective. Finally, logic won out over manly ego and irrational emotion.

I decided to put aside my petty insecurities and unwarranted anger. In our short relationship, Bella and I had already spent too much time dealing with petty drama. For now, the time was ours and I just wanted to focus on being happy.

I kissed the top of Bree's tombstone, promising to visit more often and less selfishly, and trudged across the sodden grass to my car, where I eagerly cranked up the heater. Against the soft leather seats with the warm air surrounding me and the light beer buzz in my system, I drifted off to sleep.

By the time my clothes were pretty dry and the heater had become too warm, I woke up to find that it was already dark outside. Realizing that the band would already be onstage, I felt terrible for missing it and threw the car into gear, racing through the wet streets of Port Angeles till I got to the New Moon Bar. I walked in to find the patrons standing up, wandering towards the bathroom, refilling their drinks…all signs that the band had already played their first set. I started to make my way towards the dressing room when the Pixie appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path.

"You and I need to talk." She demanded, pulling me through the stage door to the back of the house. "You _can_ _not_ hold this against Bella. She didn't know you then, and you can't begin to realize what she was going through. Does she question you about your past relationships? Do you think she would get all judgmental and storm off? Speaking of which, enough with the running away! You can't just ditch her every time something gets awkward or uncomfortable. That's not what boyfriends and girlfriends do! You stay and you talk about it – maybe you fight or yell a little – but you deal with it-"

Just then, Jasper peeked his head out of the dressing room, his eyes going wide at the lecture I was taking before he closed the door behind him and scurried over. "Alice, this isn't our business."

"Hell if it isn't, Jasper! He's not only her boyfriend, he's our manager and he can't keep letting her hurt like this right before a performance."

"No, it's okay. She's right, Jazz." I interjected, feeling the sting of her words. "I didn't think the housewarming was the time or place to deal with it, but I shouldn't have just left her like that when she knew I was upset. I'm just…I'm not the yelling, fighting type. I prefer to get my thoughts organized before I deal with something and, well, it just takes me a little bit of time to do that. But, I get it, Al. Really, I do." I assured her, rubbing her arm apologetically.

"I love you, Edward. You're one of us now and, I don't mean to take sides. I just…we…we watched her go through it. We didn't like it…none of us did. But, it was what she felt she needed to do. And we always worried when the right guy came along, that it would be a deal breaker." She huffed, her eyes tearing up slightly. "Please…it can't be a deal breaker for you."

"It's not a deal breaker, Al. I promise. But – can I see her? I really think I should be having this conversation with her right now." I hedged, looking up into Jasper's eyes. He nodded solemnly, nodding with his head to the dressing room door. "Thanks." I muttered, rubbing Alice's arm one more time before clasping Jasper on the shoulder and walking in.

Inside, Bella sat on the couch crying against Emmet's chest with his massive arms circled around her. Rosalie leaned against the counter – arms folded across her chest. The moment she recognized me, I got the glare I was expecting from her.

As the door clicked closed, Bella looked up – her eyes blood shot, her nose red, mascara dripping down her cheeks. Still, her eyes lit up just a little when she saw me.

"Edward!" She sighed, jumping out of Emmet's arms and racing over to mine. "I'm so, so, so sorry! I'll tell you everything, I promise. No secrets. Just, please, don't go like that…" She begged, her arms wrapped so tightly around my neck that I had trouble breathing.

"Babe, it's okay – you don't have to apologize. It's alright…I'm not going anywhere." I assured her rapidly, hugging her back while trying to loosen her grip just a little. "Rose? Emmet?" I looked at them longingly over her shoulder. "I'm really sorry but, do you think you might be able to give us a minute?"

Emmet chimed in quickly, a look of understanding on his face. "Sure man." He offered, standing up and quickly walking for the door.

Rose glared at me a moment longer, her jaw sliding back and forth as she considered it carefully. "Please." I mouthed once more, trying to communicate how sorry I was. Luckily, her expression softened and she nodded, caressing Bella's hair once and kissing her on the top of the head before exiting the room and leaving us alone.

I swooped her up and carried her over to the loveseat, cradling her on my lap with her head against my shoulder.

Unbidden images popped into my mind – _Had Tyler held her like this? In this very spot? – _I blinked them away, shaking my head to clear my thoughts once more.

"Bella, I think I owe you an explanation." I started, but she sat up, panicked.

"No! You don't owe me anything, I understand completely-" She began to ramble.

"Babe, not just about this. We need to communicate better, right? So, just give me a chance to try to explain something. I'm not a fighter. I never really have been. I don't like arguing and confrontation and yelling and screaming and all of that. But, ironically, I have a quick temper. So, I learned a long time ago that the only way to control myself was to step away from the situation till I calmed down. You need to know – I'm not running away from you, Bella. I'm not leaving you. I'm just trying to get my thoughts and my feelings in order so that I can handle it better. Can you work with me on that? I need to know that I can step away and calm down without you falling apart." She sniffled, wiped her tears away and nodded.

"As for today, I've been struggling with wanting to know and not wanting to know at the same time. I think…" I took a deep breath, my chest constricting around the words, "I just don't want anymore surprises like that. So, I think what I'm asking…is there anyone else that is a part of our daily lives? Jasper? Emmet?"

"NO!" She gasped, her eyes going wide. Then softer and with a scrunch of her nose, as if the thought was disgusting, another "No."

"Anyone else in our circle of friends?" Her eyes teared up once more, her lip quivering.

"James had just broken my heart. He had just gotten into a big fight with Demetri and we were both drunk off our asses…" She began.

My heart tightened painfully in my chest. "Felix?" The name was a gasp and a whisper.

She nodded, the tears overflowing once again. "He was staying over and we were both so pissed off and hurt that we just drank too much and…I don't know...it just seemed to make sense at the time that, if anyone was ever going to make me…you know…that it would be him. And, he said he was tired of drama with men so, if any woman could make him straight, it would be me…" She trailed off as I struggled to take it all in. "But we didn't go all the way, we just…fooled…around…" She struggled with the words, perhaps realizing that they really didn't seem to make anything better.

I sat there, just trying to take it all in – those same nagging questions and thoughts from earlier plaguing me once again. Somehow, I didn't know if it was better or worse that they were both gay.

"Do you hate me?" Bella sniffled.

I pulled her close, kissing her forehead. "Of course not. I just…I just really need to wrap my head around it." I swallowed the knot that was forming in my throat as unbidden images of Felix's large form, wrapped around my girl…tangled arms and legs…I could feel the bile rising in my throat.

"Anyone else?" I asked, just wanting to get this over with.

She took a deep breath. "That you know?" She bit her lip, contemplating…and I must say it unnerved me how long she had to think it over. "No, no one else that you know."

Surprisingly, I was able to inhale a sigh of relief.

The worst was past us.

I lifted her up, carrying her over to sit her on the counter. A moment later, I had a Kleenex in my hand and was carefully dabbing at her Alice Cooper mascara.

"What are you doing?" She asked, unaware of how she looked.

"I'm getting the star ready to perform her next set." She stilled my hand, looking into my eyes.

"Are we okay?"

I swallowed, not wanting to lie to her. "I will be…I just need a little time to sort through everything." Her lip quivered and I feared she was about to start crying again, so I tipped her head up and kissed her once – sweetly, but quickly – on the lips. I feared a more lingering kiss would conjure up more images I didn't want to think about. "Just go out there and give the band your best and – by the time you're done – I'll give you my best, okay?"

She nodded sullenly. "Thank you for coming back and talking about it."

I gave her a grin. "Thank you for being honest with me."

Just as I was wiping the rest of the errant mascara from her face, Jasper peeked into the dressing room. "Is the coast clear? The natives are getting restless."

"Yep. One rock star, coming right up." I promised, hugging her as I lifted her off the counter and set her on her feet. "Go get 'em, beautiful."

She pecked me on the cheek before dashing out, one last, lingering look in the doorway before she disappeared.

Felix. Damn…I thought Tyler was hard to deal with, but this one really knocked me for a loop. Maybe it was because I felt myself getting closer with the big guy; I had taken him into confidence, in some ways, even more than the band. Tyler was an acquaintance – Felix was _my friend._ My stomach started knotting up as I realized that this one would mean working through it with Felix, just as much as with Bella.

"Hey Man. You busy?" I texted him from the dressing room. I paced the small room as I waited for his response.

"Naw, small crowd. Whatchya need?"

"Dressing Room?" I replied.

Less than five minutes later, he ducked into the room. "Damn hot stuff – you're looking pretty haggard. Rough day?"

I stared at him for a minute, trying to figure out how much he already knew.

"Yeah, I know about Tyler. Sorry about that – I should have known better than to serve Mimosas."

"How far did it go with you and Bella?" I asked, the words blowing out from my lips like a shotgun blast.

"Whoa." Felix collapsed onto the loveseat, totally caught off guard. "Damn, Ed. What are you trying to accomplish here?"

I sat down in the director's chair across the room from him – my fingers knotted in my hair. "I don't know, Felix. I honestly don't know. I don't want to know this shit…but then I do. And…it just feels like if I rip off the bandaid and get it over with, then I can just move on."

Felix let out an exasperated breath. "Ed…I'm not sure it works like that. But, if it's what you think you need, then I won't deny you. Just…I just want you to be really sure before you ask me for anything." He warned. "And, don't ask me anything that Bella wouldn't want you to know. I'm trusting that we're just rehatching what she's already told you…I'm trusting that you just want to hear it straight from me. Okay?"

I inhaled deeply. "Yeah. Something like that. Was there…were there any feelings involved?"

I have to give it to Felix – he made sure to carefully consider each and every word before he spoke. "I love her, Ed. You know that. And she loves me. But, we're friends. That's all. That night, we were just two friends who would do anything for each other. But…it didn't work out, man. We couldn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Bella didn't tell you?"

"Well-" I thought back on the words that Bella had said that I hadn't wanted to hear. "She said you didn't go all the way."

He put his hand over his heart. "God's honest truth, we got down to underwear – nothing more. There was some kissing, but whenever we tried to move past that, we just broke down laughing. Although your girl's a good kisser, it was all just about as awkward as awkward could be."

I let his words sink in and then…I smiled. A moment later, I began to laugh…this liberating, satisfied, carefree laugh.

Felix looked at me worriedly for a moment before grinning just a little. "Okay, you're freaking me out. I can't tell if you're relieved or if you're totally cracking."

"Relieved." I gasped as the laughter flowed through me. "I think the awkwardness is what really helped. I…I know it didn't happen that long ago, but I'm sort of picturing you like two clumsy, gangly teenagers now, and it helps."

"Well, if picturing me in the act helps, Buttercup, I'll gladly give you a demonstration." Felix smirked.

"Aw, shuddup Princess. You know I'm more man than you can handle." I teased, feeling the tension leave my shoulders and arms.

"Aw, to the contrary, I believe you're the one who's not man enough to handle _me."_ He teased again with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

I covered my eyes. "Okay! Ew! Ew! Ew! You're grossing me out, man!" I laughed.

Felix's laugh filled the room. "Yep, just as I suspected. _Pussy."_

**A/N:**_ I know, I know, the dirtiest thing about this chapter is the title. But one can I do? I'm begging for reviews so I can afford a lemon shipment and ya'll are giving me nothing! This is a team effort people. DO IT FOR THE BETA!_


	4. The Best Place

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I read it, fell in love with it and then mixed it all up and spit it back out for you to read. ;-)**_

**Warning:**_** Thankful lovin' herein!**_

**Approx:**_**8 Pages/**____**3,755 Words**_

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4 – The Best Place

"Babe, you want some eggs?" I asked as Bella padded out of our bedroom Sunday morning.

She came into the kitchen, wrapping her arms around me from behind and planting a kiss between my shoulder blades. "No thanks. I think I'm just gonna stick with a smoothie this morning."

"But, I'll have some eggs, if you're offering Pookie." Jazz joked from his perch on the sofa.

I shook my head. "And how do you like them?"

"Unfertilized!" He and Alice called out in unison – obviously some corny, inside joke.

"Ali, you going running with me?" Bella asked as she gathered her ingredients by the blender.

"You betchya – though my Jazzy Bear made sure I got plenty of exercise last night."

"Ugh, gross!" I teased, just as Jazz began tickling Alice and the two set off in a frenzy of lovey-wovey baby talk.

I thanked God that Bella wasn't into that stuff. _Definite deal breaker, _I thought to myself with a chuckle.

"What are you giggling about?" Bella poked me in the side as she sashayed by to get some milk from the fridge.

"Oh, nothing." I hedged.

"C'mon, talk to me pookie-ookie love muffin…" She teased, setting me to laughing even harder.

"Jazzy Bear, are you gonna let them make fun of me like that?!" Alice challenged.

"Why yes, Alice, cuz the man's making me breakfast instead of making me drink some nasty green stuff. I'll stand up for you at lunch time, okay?" Jazz teased, moments before I heard – rather than saw – Alice slug his arm.

The phone rang as Bella was bent over, digging through the refrigerator; her satin sleep shorts riding low on her hips so that I got a nice peek at her thong panties. "Mr. Orgasmo", as Bella had nicknamed my manhood, appreciated the view.

"Babe, can you get that?" She asked with a little wiggle of her hips.

_Damn, I'd like to get that!_ I thought to myself, before an image of Tyler fondling Bella changed my mind.

What could I say…I was working on it.

"Brandon, Cullen and Swan residence. This is Cullen speaking. How may I help you?" I answered, sliding the phone into the crook of my neck so that I could return my attention to the bacon and eggs.

"She said yes." A breathless male voice said as a chorus of female voices began screeching on the other side of the line.

"She said yes?" I questioned, feeling like I was in some Bond movie and no one had given me the secret code.

Bella peeled the phone away from me, clenching it to her ear as she repeated excitedly: "She said yes?!" A second later, Bella was jumping up and down, making the same screeching noise as the chorus of girls on the phone. "Jacob and Renesmee are engaged!" She shouted out to the rest of us, finally making sense of things. With her ingredients forgotten on the counter, she ran off to our bedroom – presumably to get all of the sordid details.

"Hey, Alice?" I called out to the couple canoodling on the couch. "Think you could walk me through this shake? I may as well get it ready for her when she's done gossiping."

Alice popped up off the couch and sat down in one of the barstools on the other side of the counter. "Oh, that's sweet. She'll love that!"

"Let me just finish cooking the bacon and eggs real quick and you can teach me your secret recipe."

"It's just banana and pineapple. The closest thing to a secret would be the fennel."

"I don't even know what that is." I said over my shoulder as I plated the eggs.

"I think fennel is the think that gives licorice its flavor, or something like that. But it's hella good for you. It has folic acid, iron, vitamin c, fiber, potassium and all sorts of good stuff." She smiled at me.

Soon, Bella walked out to find Jazz sitting at the dining room table, moaning quite awkwardly as he scarfed down breakfast, Alice sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping her green concoction as she thumbed through her latest issue of Cosmo, and me at the kitchen sink cleaning up the dishes.

"Bella, Edward made the shakes for us. Isn't that sweet?" Alice bragged. "Yours is in the refrigerator."

Bella slinked towards me, spinning me around to face her, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me down to kiss me long, slow and lingering.

There was no image of Tyler or Felix to nag at me. Mr. Orgasmo was up and at attention instantly as Bella's tongue teased at my lips, begging entry.

"Man, you're ruining my breakfast. Can't you two animals get a room?" Jazz whined from the dining room.

So I did. I picked Bella up – her legs wrapping instantly around my hips – and carried her to our bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us.

"Well, I guess I can see the benefit of Edward's clothing allergy now. Being that he's only half dressed this should go quite a lot faster, shouldn't it?" I could hear Jazz mock through our bedroom door.

"I don't know, Jazzy Bear. You want to race?" Alice cooed as I pushed Bella up against our bedroom wall, my clothed pelvis assaulting hers eagerly as I worked my lips down her jaw and throat. A moment later, there was another door slam and the apartment was quiet.

Now, I don't generally think of myself as a sexual deviant…but there is something kind of erotic about being in a place filled with that much sexual chemistry at one time. Maybe it was some mundane, prehistoric, territory claiming thing but it sort of made me want to take Bella in every way possible.

With her back pressed against the wall, I palmed her breast while my hand slid down her tiny little satin shorts, reaching for the apex of her thighs. "Ung!" She cried out as my finger slipped inside, rubbing against the tiny nub where she would feel it most. "_Fuck…" _She cursed as I moved past her clit, my fingers sliding home inside of her, turning upwards and back to stroke her as my thumb flicked against the outside of her pussy.

Her fingers tangled in my hair and pulled hard, yanking my head back as I plummeted into her, quickly bringing her to her first orgasm. Her cunt tightened around me as her back arched, her head thrown back in pure ecstasy. I slowed my movements, letting her ride it out until her head snapped forward, wild, hungry black eyes staring into mine, demanding more.

She lithely jumped down off of me, pushing against my shoulders until she had successfully steered me toward the side of our bed. The moment my knees hit the side of the mattress, she focused on slipping my green, satin pajama bottoms down – my manhood literally bouncing with joy as she set it free. There, on her knees, she looked up at me with a sadistic little smile; only the very tip of her tongue peeking out at she leaned forward, licking me with feather light touches from the base of my balls, up along the underside of my shaft. Chills raced up my spine, my body visibly trembling from excitement.

I knew this look. My girl wasn't going to give it to me fast and hard like I had. No…she planned on drawing this out; taking her time to bring me the same pleasure I had given her. Like a tigress that enjoyed the hunt as much as the feast, she played with me…toyed with me, trickling the faintest of kisses from my head, down my length. Swirling her tongue around my testicles before sucking them into her mouth, one by one.

Unf…the look on her face as she licked and teased…her hair a mess, her eyes so dark and hungry as she licked my cock like a freaking lollipop, grabbing me at the base and just running her tongue with long, slow licks up to the very tip.

I couldn't stand it any longer – she was driving me so insane that I did something I had never done before. I just fisted her hair and pushed my way between her soft, pink lips – instantly regretting my loss of control as I sat down on the bed and pulled away from her.

She wiped her mouth, smiling at me, a look of understanding and – approval? – in her eyes.

"It's okay, baby…I like your eagerness…but why don't I give you something else to focus on, hmm?" She asked, crawling onto the bed and turning around to go at me from another angle. Now, as she took my length in whole, I had a beautiful view of her satin covered ass as it wiggled with her ministrations, which gave me an idea.

I sucked my finger, getting it as wet as possible, and tried something that she had been talking about trying for quite some time. My hand slid up her thigh as she sucked me in, my fingers slipping beneath the pink satin and along her firm little ass until my fingers slid between her tight little cheeks. She backed off of me, a low, deep moan escaping her as I pushed farther between, my finger probing her for the very first time. She gave me another, eager moan as she pushed back down my length – the vibrations of her pleasure shivering through me as I circled her, applying pressure without entering.

Now, her whole body moved back and forth as she took me in, ever so often bypassing my cock to lick and suck on my balls. I squeezed her ass – spanked her slightly and each time, she'd reward me with another deep moan with my cock balls-deep within her mouth. I used a second finger, teasing her…slipping and sliding and tickling, but never actually pushing in…until she surprised me by pushing back against my hand; her mouth quickly popping off of my dick with a gasp as I entered her behind for the first time.

"Baby, you shouldn't have done that. We have to take it slow." I warned, loving the way she felt wrapped around me, but not wanting to hurt her.

She turned, casting a wild, ravenous look over her shoulder. "Don't stop." She demanded.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

She reiterated with a double pump of her hips. "Don't. Stop."

Could she actually like this? Could she be that ready? I pulled my finger out before sliding it back into place as she let out a shivering breath.

"Yessss…" She hissed with satisfaction before instantly gulping down my length, my head quickly hitting the tightness at the back of her throat.

"Fuck, Bella. Take it easy, baby." I warned, but another sway of her hips and another throating of my dick told me that she no longer had any desire to take it slow and easy.

She whimpered as I pulled out of her, but it was only long enough so that I could pull down the satin and her thong to better appreciate what she was letting me do. Up and down she moved, back and forth she swayed as her moaning grew louder and the vibrations traveled further from my groin into my limbs. I parted her cheeks and resumed my stroking, watching the way her body moved for me, around me, because of me. Her ass tightened around my hand and I imagined the way it would feel buried inside of her here, in this last forbidden place.

"Now, baby. Please." I begged as I could feel my balls tightening with their impending release. She surprised me by sliding forward toward my feet and taking me in, reverse cowgirl style. We had never tried it before, but I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the best views ever! I could still squeeze and play with her ass as she took me in, over and over again till I climaxed hard inside of her.

She rode out my climax till she was able to reach her own – rolling over onto her back, smiling and sated with her head at my feet and her feet near my head.

"Not that I'm complaining," I started as I regained my breath, "but what brought that on?"

Her hand mindlessly caressed my leg, her fingertips and nails grazing over my shin and thigh.

"I don't know. I was already happy for Jake and then I walk into the kitchen to see you taking care of everyone – including me...I'm just grateful for you."

I reached my hand across her, resting my hand on her hip. "I'm grateful for you too."

We lay there in silence for a moment, just relaxing, touching one another as we stared up at the ceiling.

"I have an idea," I started, sitting up to look at her, "why don't I fix you breakfast in bed before you go for your run with Alice?"

"I'm starting to think I might skip the run today. You wore me out!" She laughed.

"Well, do you want me to go get your shake for you anyways?" I asked, like a kid eager to show off his handiwork.

"Actually, I kind of want to just roll over and take a nap. Save it for me for when I wake up?" She asked, smiling at me impishly.

"Of course. Would you like some company?"

She scooted around so that her head was resting on her pillow and I adjusted so that I could spoon behind her, holding her close as she quickly drifted off to sleep in my arms.

I wasn't surprised an hour later when I woke up to find her still fast asleep, so I just dressed quietly, snagged her laptop and slipped out to the living room to check the band's e-mail.

"Any news?" Jasper asked as he emerged from Alice's bedroom – his hair a riot and his clothes disheveled. Apparently, they had the same idea for a post-coital nap that we did. "Nothing yet, but it's only been a week, so I guess that's not so bad." I answered, trying to sound more positive than I was. "Alice still passed out?"

"Are you kidding me? I was still catching my breath when she was hopping in the shower and getting ready for her run. I don't know what that fennel stuff is, but its potent shit." He took a sip of his water before sitting down at the table beside me and leaning in conspiratorially. "Honestly?" He whispered, "It scares the shit out of me sometimes." I laughed, closing out of the e-mail account and closing the laptop. "Bella still out?"

"Yeah, she's been a real sleepyhead lately. I don't think she's coming down with anything, though, cuz she seems fine otherwise."

Jazz shrugged. "Well, you two had a lot of sleepless nights. Maybe she's just catching up. So, what's the game plan for the record execs?"

"What do you mean?"

"How long are you and Dad planning on sitting on this, waiting for a response?"

"Why, do you think we've waited too long?" I asked, already feeling like a failure as a manager.

"No, not yet. But, in my experience, it's the aggressive ones who get heard. I mean, look at how long we sat on our asses and got nothing. You came in, made some noise and bam – we get an audience. You don't want to be a nuisance, but you can't let them forget about you, either."

"Good point. Do you know when your Dad's gonna be home again? I think we need to sit down and make some decisions about moving forward."

"Sure, he's home today, I think. You should give him a call."

Bella was still sound asleep when I headed out to meet Carlisle thirty minutes later, but Jazz promised me he'd wake her up in time to get her to the bar for the night's performance. Plus, if I knew Alice, she'd make sure Bella was awake with plenty of time to spare for make-up and wardrobe.

Per Carlisle's request, I met him at a small diner called the Carver Café. It was a small dive on a quiet street, but I knew I had the right place when I spotted Carlisle's Mercedes in the small parking lot.

"Edward!" He greeted brightly as the little bells on the door chimed with my arrival. "C'mon in to the best kept secret in town."

A young, blonde waitress with her hair pulled into a loose ponytail smiled at me as Carlisle escorted me to his table. It was a two seater, right off the kitchen.

"Before we get to business, Esme made me promise to watch my cholesterol, so I'm not supposed to be here right now. We can keep this little meet-up confidential, can't we?" Carlisle grinned slyly as he blew on his coffee. "If I had to eat more rabbit food for lunch, I was going to have to off myself."

"Oh, we can't have that, Daddy C." I smiled back as the blonde approached our table. Her handwritten tag said her name was Susan, and she looked like she was fresh out of high school.

Susan smiled widely as she approached our table. "Hey Doc, I see you brought us a fresh victim." Carlisle chuckled as he sipped from his mug. "What can I get for you?"

"Oh, I haven't even really looked at the menu yet."

"To drink?"

"Oh, um…Coke, no ice?"

"Sure thing." She smiled. "I'll be back with your drink in a minute – and don't let this one talk you into ordering anything smothered – he's a heathen!" She teased, patting Carlisle on the back. It was pretty easy to tell this wasn't his first time lying to Esme. He was obviously a regular offender.

"So, what's good here?" I asked, browsing one side of the menu.

"Honestly?" He leaned forward, a hand to his mouth. "Anything smothered."

I laughed, really enjoying the doctor's company. "Alright, chicken strips it is."

Susan returned a minute later with a sour face. "I'm sorry, we're out of coke. Is there something else you would like?"

I substituted a Dr. Pepper as we placed our orders.

"So, what's on your mind, Edward?"

"It's been a week and I haven't heard anything from the record labels. They said they would be in touch, but Jasper seems to think we should take a more aggressive approach. I was wondering what your thoughts were."

"Well, he has a point. It was your more aggressive approach that got us to this point. However, we don't want to make ourselves a nuisance either."

"That's what I was thinking." I clarify as Susan plops my fizzy drink down in front of me.

"Perhaps the trick is _not_ to wait for them."

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue, but he just casually lifted his mug and sipped, as if he had nothing more to say.

"Why do I feel like you're trying to pull some ninja, Vulcan, Jedi mind trick on me?" I asked with a cock-eyed grin.

He wiggled his eyebrows over the steaming cup. "Ah…because maybe I am, young Padawan."

And that was all he said. We sat there in silence as he let me contemplate his words, trying to work out what it was that he wanted me figure on my own.

If we weren't sitting around, waiting to hear from them, what would we be doing right now? Well, we sure as hell wouldn't be sitting on our asses, doing the same damn thing day in and day out. We'd be trying to write new songs, trying to expand our audience base and get ourselves more attention.

And by doing so, we'd be making ourselves even more marketable to the recording labels because they'd see our ingenuity and our eagerness to promote ourselves.

Just then, I recalled the idea that I'd almost had before falling asleep the other night – and everything seemed to fall into place.

"Congratulations, Edward-san. I see you've figured it out." Carlisle smiled, obviously seeing some subtle change in my expression.

"How do you do that?" I asked, suddenly in awe.

"Since today seems to be the day for spilling secrets, I'll tell you one more. There was no mind trick. The reason that we work well together is that I have the one and only thing that you don't; I have confidence that you'll figure it out."

"Then, what was that about not waiting?" I asked, not believing him.

"You asked me what I thought. The only opinion I had was that we weren't accomplishing anything by just sitting around. Honestly, beyond that, I didn't know what to tell you. Should we bust down their doors like screaming, pitch fork wielding villagers? Should we start a petition of supporters? Now, it's my turn to be curious. What is it that _you_ think we should do?"

Just then, Susan came around the corner carrying a tray of food to our table, another sour look on her young face. "Alright, Doc – here's your double-gut-buster burger, extra cheese, and smothered fries."

"God bless you, Sue!" He smiled, rubbing his hands together anxiously.

"And for you sir, I'm sorry, but we were out of chicken fingers, so the cook just made you a hamburger." She pouted, placing the basket down in front of me as Carlisle burst out laughing.

"Are you serious?" I asked, completely dumbfounded.

"See, I told you! This is the best place ever!" Carlisle exclaimed boisterously, popping a ranch covered, bacon cheese fry into his mouth.  
_  
_**A/N:**_ As you may know, the Carver Café is in Oregon is where they filmed the diner scenes for Twilight. Edward's order is the exact same thing I ordered when I went to visit. First, they replaced my coke with Dr. Pepper and then, they replaced my chicken strips with a hamburger – both times, they replaced my choices without asking, simply because they were out of what I ordered. lol_

**A/N:**_ Hmmm, curious what Edward figured out? I'm making you all honorary Betas, so I don't have to be so alone in this. What do you like? What would you change? What do YOU think the band should do next. Help a lonely, sad writer out!_


	5. All For Me

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I took her wholesome story about a 107 year old virgin and made him younger and pervy. *hee hee hee***_

**Warning:**_** Roadside lemons!**_

**Approx:**_**8 Pages/**____**3,619 Words**_

**5 – All For Me**

"We need to move on." I announced to the band during an impromptu, post-performance meeting Sunday night.

"Huh?" Emmet asked, ever so eloquently.

"The next step. We can either sit on our butts waiting for the labels to get back to us, or we can keep doing our very best to make a name for ourselves, increase our audience and work towards earning a record deal." I began.

"But, what about the labels we've already played for? Are we just giving up on them?" Rosalie asked, a little fear dripping into her voice.

"No. Daddy C's taking point on that." I answered, recalling our conversation at the little diner earlier in the day.

"And what exactly is Dad planning to do?" Jasper asked, slipping onto the arm of the dressing room sofa beside Alice.

"We want to be aggressive, but we don't want to be a nuisance. We've already given them one week to respond. This week, he's going to start an e-mail campaign, to see if he can get through to them. If we don't have any luck, he'll start making phone calls next week."

"And then what?" Rosalie asked.

I sighed, not really wanting to go into it, but knowing it would be unfair of me not to answer her question. "Well, if that doesn't work, we're going to have to go there in person."

The band erupted into cheers.

"Finally, somewhere I can work on a real tan!" Alice shrieked gleefully.

"I want to go to Grauman's Theater and see the handprints!" Bella's smile melted my heart…making it nearly impossible for me to break hers.

But I interrupted their cheering anyways, knowing that it was my responsibility to be truthful. "Actually, we don't have enough money in the band's account to send all of us." They slowly grew solemn, looking at me with unvoiced questions in their eyes. "That would be seven times the airfare, seven times the cost of food and at least double the hotel accommodations. Besides, the offices are all spread pretty far apart, and we'll probably be spending all of our time just trying to get our foot in the door to speak to somebody – there's not going to be any time for site seeing." I explained, yet their puppy dog eyes continued to plead with me to change my mind. "Look, as it is, Carlisle and I have agreed to pay our own way so that we don't even have to touch the band's bank account. Carlisle doesn't want to interfere with Jazz and Rose's schooling right now, and Emmet, Alice and Bella would all have to take off from work."

Alice huffed at me. "Edward, don't be ridiculous. You don't have to pay for your own business trip. I mean, how were you even planning on doing that in the first place? We know you're not working right now. If there's not enough money in our account, I'm sure we can earn it before then."

I had to say, Alice was in a surprisingly cranky mood, but Jazz gave me a look that suggested he might explain it to me later, so I didn't harp on it.

I took a deep breath, really wishing I could face this part of the conversation another day. "Well, I'm currently collecting on Bree's life insurance." A surprised look from Bella reminded me that I probably should have told her about this earlier. I swallowed, nervous about going on but knowing it was too late to stop now. "I mean, we covered the medical bills and the funeral arrangements. And of course, Renee and Phil got some of it as well. But, partially they insisted that I keep a large portion of it for myself, since I was legally her husband." I ran a hand through my hair, squeezing the tension that was suddenly building in my neck. "They…Renee and Phil," I clarified, "want me to focus on the band right now. If Bree had the opportunity, she would have wanted to be involved anyway she could – so, this is sort of our tribute to her." I was too embarrassed to add that it was also their gift to me. "Besides, if we can get a response by e-mail or phone, it may not even come to that."

Alice dropped her head, perhaps a little ashamed for having put me on the spot, I assume.

It was quiet for a moment as everyone took the situation in and processed it. Beside Emmet, Rosalie uncrossed and recrossed her legs as Emmet stretched his arms, wrapping one behind her along the back of the couch. Jasper's brows furrowed, as if he was trying to figure out some complex algorithm in his head.

"So where does this leave us?" Bella asked, slipping out of the make-up chair and slinking across the room, still in rock star mode. Her black high heeled boots blended in seamlessly with her tight, black, patent leather jumpsuit, extending her tiny frame to make her look taller…sleeker. For a moment, I was enthralled just watching the way she moved toward me…so fluid and sexual. But, Jasper cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present just as Bella sidled up beside me and wrapped her arms around my waist – her gorgeous brown eyes looking up into mine expectantly.

"Yeah, if Daddy C's following up with the execs, what are we supposed to be doing?" Emmet chimed in.

"This is the exciting part." I smiled, happy to finally get to it. "We're going viral."

"What?" Emmet again.

"Like I said, we're just going to focus on what we do best – entertaining people, getting recognized, growing our fanbase and having fun doing it." I smiled, the adrenaline beginning to course through my veins as I envisioned all of the things I had planned for us. "And we're going to do it by taking the internet by storm."

Emmet slapped his forehead. "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Dammit…we could have started a Facebook page a long time ago." Jasper mumbled to himself, his brows low over his blue eyes.

"That's alright, because we can still have one by tonight." I replied enthusiastically.

"What else?" Bella prompted, smiling up at me with pride.

"Well, a good cause tends to spread faster than some random trend – like a new band – and we're lucky cuz we already have a cause on our side."

"You're talking about Bree again, aren't you?" Alice asked, sounding exasperated.

"Of course."

"Don't you feel like we're exploiting her?" She asked, almost looking desperately displeased with me.

Her words hurt a bit, but I tried to hide it by just chuckling. "If you had known Bree the way I knew her, then you would know that she would have _faked_ a damn illness…I mean, she would have pretended to be a charity case if she thought it would get her closer to you guys. Don't get me wrong – I don't mean it in a bad way…but she was a goofball. She wasn't the kind of person who wasn't above sticking a thermometer next to a lightbulb to fake a fever if she wanted to go to a concert." I smiled, reflecting on my memories with her. "If having cancer meant that she could be adopted as the band's mascot…well then, at least having cancer would have had _one_ perk for her."

Alice blinked, her obsidian eyes brimming with unspilled tears.

"So, anyway, I want to align ourselves with a local cancer charity. Anything we do online should also link to them. Not only are we doing something good, but we'll benefit from the good publicity that will garner and we'll pick up more traffic from links back to us."

"Sounds smart." Rosalie said, her lips tight in subdued approval.

"And last, but definitely not least…I want to produce a music video." I stated with a big, smug smile on my face.

"That is so awesome!" Emmet roared, slapping his knees and bouncing out of his seat in excitement.

"Excellent idea." Jazz agreed, a slow grin spreading on his face. It was obvious to me that he was just as excited as Emmet and I, but he was attempting to play it cool.

"Carlisle and I just discussed it this afternoon so I haven't had a chance to organize anything yet, but I'm pretty sure I can get Tyler, Laurent and Max to help out again, like they did with the lighting for your show last weekend. But, we need a contact for a videographer. Does anyone have any connections?" I asked.

"Maybe – Aro has a nephew who does photography, but I think he dabbled in videos too." Emmet offered as Jasper visually tensed and turned to face him. "What was that guy's name? Keifer? Cayden? It was something weird. You know, the guy who did our photo shoot…" He hedged.

Although she attempted to do it subtly, I couldn't help but notice Rosalie jab her elbow into Emmet's side. Then again, Emmet's dramatic "What?!" face would have drawn my attention to it anyway.

"Caius." Bella answered by my side. Alice's eyes went wide as Jasper dropped his head. Apparently, everyone knew something that Emmet had somehow forgotten, because no one else looked excited by the name.

"Do you know the guy?" I asked Bella, who looked as though she might be sick.

"I haven't seen him since he did our photoshoot." She sighed.

"Is he any good?" I asked, trying to get a read on her reaction.

"Yeah, he did a great job. He's just sort of an ass." She answered, her bottom lip pulling up between her teeth as she began to nibble nervously.

"Okaaaay…." I hedged, trying to figure out what the issue was. "I mean, is it worth contacting him and asking, or do you think we're better off just looking elsewhere? For example, is it possible he'd do it for free, as a favor for us and Aro…or is he that much of a jerk that it's pointless to even ask?"

Everyone remained silent for a moment as they appeared to think it through. Everyone except for Emmet and I, who just appeared equally clueless. Then, Bella spoke up.

"Give me a couple of days and I'll talk to him."

"Are you crazy?" Alice squawked before clamping her own hand over her mouth and looking around apologetically.

"Al, he's the best lead right now and…his problem was obviously with me, not with any of you. So, maybe an apology on my part will go a long way towards convincing him to help us out." She explained, sounding painfully like she was trying to martyr herself.

"But, you weren't wrong Bella! That guy deserved it!" Alice screeched even higher.

"Alice!" Jazz mumbled nervously, attempting to calm her down.

"Why would you need to apologize? What am I missing?" I asked, hating being out of the loop.

Alice sucked her lips into her mouth – as if to silence herself – and stared at Bella nervously and apologetically.

Bella took a deep breath before coming clean. "After the photo shoot, he saw Felix and Demetri making out outside of the bar and started hating on them." Another breath. "I have no tolerance for discrimination – much less against one of my best friends – so I sort of laid into him."

I had this weird feeling I wasn't getting the entire story. Maybe it had something to do with the expressions on Jasper, Alice and Rosalie's faces. Emmet, on the other hand, seemed just as confused as I was. But, this was obviously not the time or place to get into it.

"Look, if he's that much of an ass – and I agree that you were right for telling him off – then we'll just look elsewhere. A professional would be great if we found one, but if we have to, maybe we can get a student to do it for experience. We'll figure it out." I chimed in, saddened to see the negative turn the conversation had taken. I mean – we were going to make a music video! To quote Emmet; _that is so awesome!_

"So, what song were you thinking of choosing? For the video?" Jazz mused.

"Well, honestly?" I asked as they all nodded. "Part of me wants to do Fire Within, just because it has such an awesome, catchy sound and I think we could have a ton of fun with it."

There was more smiling and nodding as they each pictured different scenes playing out in their heads.

"But, the manager side of me thinks that we should do Bree's song. _Not_ because I wrote it…but, because we can post it up in memory of Bree and, again, in the broader scheme of things, I think anything tying into Bree and charity has a much better chance of going viral." The nodding continued, but much more solemn than before. "Unless you all don't feel comfortable doing that. I don't want to ask you all to do anything you don't want to do." I added, looking right at Alice.

"If it's something she would have wanted, then I'm on board." She admitted, still looking a little embarrassed about her previous reaction.

"I think that's a great idea." Jazz piped up, rubbing his hand up and down Alice's back.

Once Rosalie, Emmet and Bella confirmed that they were in, we ended the night, each promising to do our best to help pull the whole thing together before heading out our separate ways.

"Have I ever told you how much that great, big, genius brain of yours turns me on?" Bella asked beside me, trailing her fingers up my thigh seductively.

"Oh, is that so?" I asked, my lips pulling up into a sly, crooked grin.

"Um-hm." She smiled, her other hand moving over her stomach and sliding up over the patent leather material to squeeze her breast as her head lolled back with a moan.

The drive home was beginning to look unfathomably long.

"Why is that?" I asked, struggling to keep my eyes on the dark road ahead.

She continued massaging her breast, her body moving hypnotically within the confines of the passenger seat.

"You're just so freaking creative." She mewled, squeaking as she pinched her nipple through the material. "The way you think enthralls me. The ideas you come up with and the way you put it all together." Her hand moved from my thigh inward until her fingertips grazed my heated length.

My foot pushed down harder on the gas pedal, catapulting us faster through the night.

She stroked me through my jeans and the barely-there touch was driving me mad. "Babe," I gasped, "s'not safe." That was all my "genius" brain could muster, because all of the blood had already traveled south, reducing me to an incoherent, horny fool.

"I'm sorry." She pouted. "I just want you so bad right now that it hurts, Edward." She took her seatbelt, leaning across the divide to whisper – her breath hot and humid – into my ear as her hand completely engulfed my shaft. "You don't want me to hurt, do you baby?" She purred.

I couldn't get the car to the side of the road soon enough. Whatever was going to happen, apparently, was going to happen somewhere along Highway 110 in the middle of a dark, cold Sunday night. My slow brain struggled to get my seatbelt off – the irony that it was my "genius" that started all of this was not lost on me – and soon, my hands were cupping her face, pulling her in for a deep, passionate kiss. I was suddenly faced with a quandary – as sexy as she looked in that outfit, I desperately need to touch and kiss what she was hiding underneath. I clawed at it, searching for a zipper and failing miserably.

"How do you get this damn thing off?" I laughed desperately.

"I have a better idea." She cooed, reaching around me and adjusting my seat so that I was fully reclined. "Why don't you just sit back and let me drive…" Her lips pulled up into a seductive, flirty grin as her fingers deftly began loosening my belt buckle.

I waited the painstaking minute or so it took her to loosen my pants before I was freed. "Ung…do you know how much staring at you makes my mouth water?" She asked, and I could swear that my member jumped in response.

As she sucked and licked and kissed, my mind was torn in two – in part, enjoying what she was doing to me, but also planning what I wanted to do to her once I got her out of that damned outfit.

I imagined nipping at her collarbone as I worked my way down her body – my hands massaging her breasts as I would take one pink, pert nipple into my mouth and roll my tongue around it. I'd learned that my girl's nipples could handle more loving than previously thought, so I'd grown to love pinching them and rolling them slightly, just to watch the way she would moan and squirm in response. I'd even use my teeth on them – just a little – and she'd gasp for me, her hips rising off the bed, seeking the friction that I would deny.

She was beautiful as I teased and played with her; her hair wild, her eyes dark and hungry, her skin flushed and sparkling.

I wanted so badly to be between her thighs right now, smelling her all around me, dipping my tongue in for the very first taste. I was addicted to everything about her. The way she moved. The sounds she'd make. I'd kiss her inner thigh, lap at her mound, drawing out the game till she was writhing in expectation, begging me to begin. I'd part her with my fingers, one finger slipping in to rub her clit with the slightest of touches, just to see the way she'd jump at my touch. I'd lean in with one long, slow lick from bottom to top before taking her bud between my lips and sucking gently. Then, I'd roll my tongue around it and she'd swivel her hips against my lips, almost as if I was controlling her movements with my tongue.

She was so much more sensitive than me – the slightest whisper could make her dance.

I'd slip a finger or two inside of her, curling them upwards, causing her hips to undulate with my ministrations. Then, as I coaxed her from the inside, I'd make love to her with my mouth, moaning in ecstasy at the taste of her on my tongue.

And now that I knew how much she liked it, there was a new trick in my repertoire. As I devoured her with gusto, I knew that I could now slip my hand between her legs to tickle and tease her backside. I had only done it the one time, but now, I couldn't wait t lap at her juices while I played with her ass.

As my senses became wrapped up in the fantasy, my breathing grew rapid – my heart racing – as my body contracted and I came for the very first time upon Bella's lips.

As my mind instantly switched gears and I was terrified by what I had done, another deeper-seated, primal, animalistic side roared within me and my muscles all tensed in unison once again as I watched my girl suck me deeply – a look of pure sexual triumph and pride upon her face.

I didn't care that I would taste myself on her lips, I cupped her face in my hands and pulled her up, claiming her mouth with mine as I kissed her deeply, creating a sweet mixture of her and I on my tongue.

"Think you can drive us home, now? I simply can't wait to get out of this outfit now." She smiled slyly, sliding back into her seat and putting her seatbelt back on.

"Are you kidding me? I've already planned out exactly what I'm going to do to you." I smiled back, buttoning myself back up and putting my seat upright once again.

With my seatbelt on, a moment later, we were back on the road towards home – the car quiet and stewing with sexual anticipation.

I was so caught up in getting us home that I didn't realize Bella had fallen asleep till I parked in front of our apartment. When she wouldn't stir enough to get into the apartment on her own, I went to the passenger side and picked her up, carrying her through the dark apartment to our bedroom as she slept soundly.

And I wasn't the least bit disappointed. It's amazing how quickly I switched gears, but now I wanted nothing more than to just care for her. I would still undress her, but it would be slow and quiet as I tried not to disturb that sweet, angelic look on her face as she slept. I'd wash her down with a warm cloth before covering her up in our sheets, crawling in bed beside her and pulling her close.

I would still make love to her, but it would be with my heart, and my eyes, and my hands. And it didn't really matter whether or not she ever knew, because I would do it all for me.

**A/N:**_ You can see Bella's outfit on my Facebook profile page – just search for IAmAutumnDawn and it will take you directly to my page. Can't wait to see you there! Meanwhile, the Volturi let me speak to my Beta to prove that she is still alive and well. She said "Mm mmmm, mm mm mmm. Mm mm. Mmm mmm mmmmmm."_

I think they forgot to remove the gag before they handed her the phone, but I'm *sure* it was her.


	6. Sweet Dreams

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. But, as wholesome and innocent as her story is…my story is NOT. *wicked grin***_

**Warning:**_** Just lemon scented air freshener, nothing substantial.**_

**Approx:**_**10 Pages/**____**4,761 Words**_

**6 – Sweet Dreams**

"Happy birthday, beautiful." I whispered into her ear as I nuzzled against her.

I felt her cheek bunch up with her lazy smile. "Thank you, handsome."

"Can I make you breakfast in bed, or do you want to sleep a little longer?"

"Yes." She mumbled, her eyes still closed as she rolled over and burrowed into my arms.

I chuckled at her. "Which is it, love?"

"Both."

"You want to sleep a little longer while I make you breakfast?" I asked, smiling from ear to ear at how simply adorable she was.

Her eyes popped open as she hopped up and kissed me on the tip of my nose. "I love how brilliant you are!" Then, with a big smile on her face, she released me and dug her way deeper under the covers, snuggling them tightly around her face as she dozed off.

I slipped out of bed quietly, pulled on some flannel pajama bottoms and slinked out of our bedroom. I wasn't surprised to find that the apartment was still quiet – Alice tucked away into her bedroom as well.

Jazz had finally explained that her crankiness was due to PMS. I told him I wasn't looking forward to that once a month, and that's when he explained that it only gets worse for me. Apparently, just as Alice returns to her normal, bubbly self, I should expect the same from Bella.

It was the first time I had truly realized the horrors of being the lone man in a two woman household.

So, for the past three days, I had taken to learning Alice's patterns. She slept a little later, kept to herself a little more than usual. The only consolation was that Jazz figured she should be coming out of it by Bella's birthday.

I sure as hell hoped so, but, just to be on the safe side, I made breakfast for her in bed too – just to butter her up a little. I even delivered hers first, just to give Bella a little extra time to sleep.

With a tray in hand that I'd picked up the day before, I knocked on her door.

"Yes?" She answered, a little groggy.

"It's Edward. I have a little something for you. May I come in?"

"Just a minute." She hedged. Although I had waken her up, there was a softer edge to her voice that made me hopeful. "Sorry, come on in."

I slipped inside and immediately snorted.

"What?" She asked, hurt crossing her face.

"I'm sorry – I've just never seen you like that before." As a habit, Alice never came out of her bedroom without her make-up and every hair perfectly placed, plus some cute outfit perfectly coordinated. But apparently, she had been nude when I knocked because the first thing I noticed was that she was wearing one of Jasper's t-shirts and some boxers – both of which swallowed her whole – and her pixie haircut was spiked out in a million directions, making her resemble a Yu-gi-oh character.

I paused for a minute to figure out how I even knew that, but shrugged it off as having seen it on a commercial or something.

"You just look really cute. It's nice to see you looking human." I teased, still standing in the open doorway.

She cringed at the word "human", but gave me a little grin and waved me over. "Shutup and give me my surprise." She teased.

I carried the tray into her, placing it down onto the bed over her criss-crossed legs. "Voila. Breakfast in bed."

"Edward! You didn't have to do that? What's the special occasion?"

"Well, I know you've had a rough couple of days and – well – I was making Bella breakfast for her birthday anyway so, just consider it to be one of the perks of living with a man in love." I gave her my best Cheshire Cat grin.

"You didn't have to do that, but thank you. And, I can only assume that Jazz has warned you about Alice-zilla?"

I chuckled at her nickname for herself. "Not as much warned as explained. A warning may have been a little better." I shrugged. She just laughed.

"Sorry about that, but the good thing is she won't be back for another 28 days!" She hedged.

I pretended to clap my hands. "Oh joy!" I faked enthusiasm, and she threw a piece of her toast at me.

"Don't worry – I'm not usually that bad, and you'll hardly be able to tell at all with Bella. You'll live."

"Well, thanks for that. And, speaking of Bella, I better go finish her breakfast. Enjoy!" I offered with a wave as I headed out of the bedroom.

"Edward?" She called out as I was about to close the door. I peeked back in. "Bella's lucky to have you…and so am I." I grinned, feeling pretty smug with the compliment, before closing the door and racing back to the kitchen.

Another ten minutes or so, I had eggs, bacon, toast and a short stack of my cheesecake pancakes already loaded onto the tray with a glass of orange juice, some water and some strawberry syrup. I doubted she'd eat everything, but I wanted to make sure she had a selection.

I snuck back into our bedroom with the tray and put it down on the dresser, expecting to have to wake her up again – but luckily, the aroma did that for me.

"Mmm…" She smiled in bed, rolling over to face me as she stretched like a lazy house cat.

She opened her eyes quickly, her irises immediately zeroing in on the tray. "Cheesecake pancakes?" She asked.

"Um-hm." I smiled.

"With strawberry syrup?" She sat up in bed.

"Yes ma'am."

She reached out towards the tray, her hands opening and closing in a grabbing motion, sort of like a toddler does when first learning to communicate. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" She chanted with a huge smile on her face.

"What's the magic word?" I taunted as I held the tray just out of her reach.

"Please? Thank you? I love you? Sex?" She rushed as I laughed at her overzealousness.

I placed the tray over her lap, then kissed the tip of her nose as she had done to me earlier. "All of the above."

She took a bite of pancakes, moaning as if she was approaching climax, and turning me on in the process. "Oh my God – a hot man in my bed and these pancakes – I can die happy." She smiled.

"So, what's the plan for the day?" I asked, testing the waters.

Her eyes went wide. "I…I don't know, really. I hadn't thought about it. I just figured I'd leave it open in case anyone else had any plans."

"Good." I smiled. "Exactly what I wanted to hear." I climbed in bed beside her, careful not to tip her tray, and snagged one of her bacon strips.

"Hey!" She yelled at me, swatting me playfully on the leg. "So, I take it you have something in mind?"

"I have a lot in mind, but why don't you just focus on breakfast for now?"

Luckily, Jacob was off from school, so we started the day off just doing a little fishing with him, Billy and Chief Swan. It was just about ten am when we hit the water, so it was still cool outside, if not a little misty. Still, we spent a good hour just laughing and talking out on the shore, not really caring whether or not the fish were biting. Jacob went on and on about the proposal and how he couldn't have done it without Bella's help. We laughed about the mix-up we had experienced when I thought I caught him proposing to Bella, but I still found myself subconsciously pulling Bella closer, as if to mark my territory.

_Geez, Edward, why not just pee on her?_ I thought to myself.

Jacob explained that Sam and Emily were planning an impromptu party this Sunday to celebrate the engagement, and invited us to come. I promised to be there, as long as I could get a rematch with Seth – the kid who had previously kicked my ass at Wii.

A couple of hours later, we were back in Port Angeles with Jasper, Emmet and Felix attending a church carnival. Fairs and carnivals don't come our way very often, so I just had to take advantage of the experience for her birthday. The girls had something else planned for Bella a little later, but it was easy to see that the carnival was a win when her face lit up at the entrance. As sexy and beautiful as she can be, I had a feeling my girl was a tomboy at heart and the afternoon proved me right. She kept up with us guys every single step of the way, never backing down to a challenge and getting infuriated if anyone suggested that she should. We gorged ourselves on every fair delicacy possible: hot dogs, corn on the cob, pizza, elephant ears. I swear, I didn't know where she was putting it all. We were all quite competitive on the midway and, even though Bella won the largest prize fair and square, the rest of us took joy in getting her riled up, claiming that we "let her win".

Her only girly moment was choosing the cutest stuffed animal offered, but she turned that around by imitating the little girl from that Despicable Me movie.

"It's so FLUFFY!" She went around, shouting at random passersby as she shook the gigantic stuffed puppy at them.

I swear, I couldn't be any more in love with the girl than I already was.

Before long, Rosalie, Alice and Renee were meeting us at the fair exit and it was time for me to pass Bella off.

"You're not coming?" She pouted at me.

"Not for this leg of the trip. This is the girls only part." I pouted back at her, wondering how pitiful it would be if I came along. I leaned into her ear to whisper: "But don't worry – Renee swears she won't let the terror twins do anything too awful to you."

With that, she got the biggest smile on her sweet face, threw her arms around my neck and squeezed with all of her might. "I love you, Edward." She kissed me, tasting of hot dogs and powdered sugar. "Best birthday _ever!_"

With that, I swatted her ass as she turned around and raced off to get in Rosie's car.

Emmet wrapped one of his huge arms around my neck, pulling my head down and giving me a noogie. "C'mon, lover boy, we have a job to do."

With that, I headed off with the guys to get cleaned up before heading out to the bar.

As a publicity stunt, Aro was throwing a birthday extravaganza for Bella tonight. The band would still be expected to perform, as usual, but Aro was offering them free drinks in the hopes that they would mingle with patrons and encourage _them_ to buy more drinks.

I was doubtful about the turn out, as we had already called in numerous favors over the past couple of weeks, but Aro was positive that there was enough of a fanbase out there to make the night a success.

I sure hoped so – if not, this was going to be one depressing "Birthday party".

The guys and I arrived early to set up the equipment for the performance and to help Jessica and Angela decorate the place. Mike had even created a special cocktail for the night called "Bella's Bubbly". In addition, there were tons of poster-sized images of Bella posted up around the place with "Happy Birthday, Bella" or "Happy Birthday, Rock Star" printed on them.

I was hypnotized by one poster in particular – Bella was laced up in a corset I had never seen her in before and the look in her eyes was unmistakable; she wanted to make love to the camera. I knew the look well…it was the same look that often featured in our bedroom…a look that, even standing here, staring at a picture in public, made me swell with lust.

"He's good, right?" Emmet asked, punching my shoulder.

"Who?"

He nodded toward the poster. "This was the photo shoot I was telling you about. The one Aro's nephew did."

For a second, I was disturbed by the fact that there was a man _behind _the camera that my girlfriend was making love to…but I took a deep breath and pushed my petty jealousy aside. From a new perspective, Emmet was right – the guy's photography was really good. If he did work as a videographer as well – and if he was willing to work with us – he could definitely be the guy we needed to bring this project to life.

But, how would that make Bella feel? And, did Felix even know about what happened that night?

It was too much to think about for the time being, so I just shook my head to clear it and got back to work blowing up balloons.

By the time the bar started filling up with patrons, Alice texted me to let me know that everything was going according to plan. She and Rosie were pretending that the spa day had run late, so they were now "panicking" as they made their way to the bar to perform.

I was worried about letting them take Bella for a spa day, but they promised me that they would only be getting manicures and massages so that Bella would be perfectly relaxed the entire time. I knew for a fact that Bella hated all the scrubbing and plucking and waxing, so Renee went as Bella's bodyguard and promised me she wouldn't let them do anything that Bella didn't seem excited about. That was the only reason I didn't personally crash their spa day.

The wait staff was already wearing buttons that Aro had specially made with Bella's image that read "Buy me a drink and let's celebrate!" I carried extras for the band to put on after their first set, since Bella couldn't see them yet.

I didn't know whether I was impressed by his ingenuity or disgusted by it.

Either way, Rosalie pulled the car around back so that they could sneak in, therefore bypassing the decorations and waiting crowd until it was time to take the stage. The guys and I waited in the dressing room for them to arrive, being sure to complain about how late they were and to rush them to get ready.

I lead them out, slipping past the stage door as Emmet and Jasper blocked Bella from seeing out. "Ladies and Gentleman, we're terribly sorry for the delay but please allow me to introduce the group you've been anxiously waiting for!" I announced, swallowing as my nerves pooled in my stomach. I had worked out the order from smallest to largest so that there'd always be someone to block Bella's view of the room until the last moment. "On keyboard, Alice Brandon!" I paused for the applause. "On rhythm and bass, Rosalie Hale!" A couple of jocks in the back of the room whistled as Rosalie strutted onto the stage. "On lead guitar, Mr. Jasper Hale!" As Jasper hopped onto the stage, a group of girls to my left hit a high note of excitement. I couldn't help but laugh as Alice grabbed Jasper's shirt collar and pulled him in for a kiss as he passed. A bunch of patrons laughed as the girls giggled and playfully booed Alice. "On drums, beat master Emmet McCartney." Emmet ran out like Arsenio Hall, whooping at the crowd as they whooped and hollered back. "And last but not least, our lead vocalist and beloved birthday girl, Bella Marie Swan!" I announced, opening the stage door. The audience response was deafening as her jaw dropped and Jasper started wailing on his guitar. By the time I convinced her to step out, the others had picked up on their instruments and began playing a full out, rock and roll version of the Birthday Song.

"What did you do?" She screamed over the noise.

"Wasn't me." I smiled, taking her hand and leading her up onto the stage.

"Aro's gimmick?" She asked.

"But of course." I leaned in to confirm.

Felix brought a stool over to center stage so that Bella could sit for a minute and, as soon as she sat down, people unexpectedly began coming up, dropping off gifts and flowers onto the apron of the stage and reaching up to shake her hand or kiss her fingers or just give her a high five.

By the time the rock and roll version of the song died out and Jasper began a slow, traditional version of the song, Bella was in tears as the entire bar began singing Happy Birthday to her.

Seeing how happy and moved she was, I decided that Aro was a genius after all.

Once the drunken party goers finished singing, Bella stood up, flicking away her tears as she picked up the microphone. "I cannot begin to tell you how surprised, touched and thankful I am that you all came out to celebrate with me today." Again, the drunks whooped and whistled in response. "And, for those of you who brought gifts, I can't begin to fathom what I've done to deserve your kindness, but I thank you from the very, very depths of my heart." A few people "aww'd" as she began to choke up. I grabbed a napkin off a nearby table and handed it to her. "There is only one thing I can think to do to make this up to all of you." She turned to the band and a second later, as they were all still nodding their heads, Bella screams into the microphone: "Let's rock and roll!"

They modified their show, performing one long set without interruption, but cutting it just short of a standard performance. With that, Bella thanked everyone for coming as Emmet screamed "Party on!"

Neither I nor Renee drank, so that the band would have designated drivers for the ride home.

"I can't thank you enough for helping out today, Renee. You've been great." I said, pulling her aside from the noise.

She caressed my cheek. "Eddie, it's been my great pleasure. You were so sad for so long…you have no idea how happy it makes Phil and I to see you doing so well."

"How are you two doing?"

"We're good." She shrugged. "Somedays, we do really well – as if nothing ever happened, actually. But then, the next day, we remember what we lost and we're twice as miserable from the grief and guilt." She gave me a sad smile. "It is what it is, I suppose."

"I visited her the other day." I confessed. "It was the first time, honestly. I had some stuff on my mind and, she was the first person I thought to go to."

Her smile warmed a bit, her expression softened. "And, did she help?"

I took her hand in mine and squeezed. "She always does."

"Uh-oh. I think the birthday girl may have had too much to drink." Renee warned, her eyes roaming past the bar towards Aro's office, where Bella was leaning in to some blonde guy I'd never seen before. His hand wrapped casually around her waist and I could feel myself bristling. "Edward?" Renee warned. "Can you handle yourself, or shall I take care of this?" Renee asked, sensing my temper flaring.

I took a deep breath, shaking my head and my arms out to loosen up a bit. "No. Thanks, but I'm good."

She patted me on the shoulder, an eyebrow cocked in warning. "You better be."

I wound my way through the crowd, wrapping myself along the wall until I got close enough to grab the blonde stranger's eye. His arm fell to his side as he brought my presence to Bella's attention.

"Hey babe! Where have you been?" She lighted up, catching me off guard. Her eyes were crystal clear, her stance not the least bit intoxicated as I sidled up beside her.

"You're not drunk?" I whispered into her ear.

She shook her head, a bright smile on her smug face before beckoning me to lower my ear to her lips. "Per my request, Mikee's only serving me virgins for the night. I want to be clearheaded for when I get you home." She kissed my cheek before backing away with a devilish look in her eyes. "Edward, I want you to meet Aro's nephew Caius. Caius, this is my boyfriend Edward."

_Ah, so this was the photographer they had mentioned to me._

"Bella tells me that you want to shoot a music video for the band?" He asked, firmly gripping my hand with a shake.

"Yeah." I responded, eyeing Bella to make sure this was what she wanted. When she gave me a nod, I continued. "We were hoping you might be interested in filming for us."

"As I've heard." He sipped what I recognized as the specialty drink for the night.

"We can't afford to pay you much, but I'm sure-" I began, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"No need. I made quite an ass of myself the last time I was here. Consider this my way of apologizing." He said, pulling out his wallet and handing me a business card. "Call me tomorrow and we can work out the details."

"That's excellent." I enthused, shaking his hand more anxiously than before. "Thank you very much."

Yet again, he waved me off as if my thanks was unwarranted. "No need, it would be my pleasure. Bella," he added smoothly, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek, "have a wonderful birthday. Edward, I look forward to hearing from you." He gave me a confident pat on the back before setting his empty glass on the bartop and making his way out through the crowd.

"What happened?" I asked, completely shocked.

Her eyes went wide as she shook her head, as if completely befuddled. "I called him into Aro's office to talk but, before I could start, he was apologizing to me for being such a dick the last time. It was the weirdest thing. Apparently, it's really been bugging him."

"So, maybe he's not a jackass after all?" I asked, hopeful that a future video shoot wouldn't be at risk.

She shrugged. "I guess not. I mean, he was pretty drunk that night. Maybe that was the reason?"

I hugged her, sweeping her off her feet as I spun around with her in my arms. "Who cares? We got a videographer!" I shouted, though you could barely hear me over the racket of the crowd.

"Yep but, do you think we can get out of here now? These stilettos are killing me!"

Even though it was later than usual, the party was raging and I could tell that Aro had no desire to shut it down. So, when he caught me gathering the band up to go home, he quickly interrupted. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, Bella's tired, so I'm heading out, I just want to make sure that the guys get home okay." I explained.

"No worries. If they want to stay, I will personally drive them home – and I promise I will not be drinking a drop." He assured me, desperate to make the most of the event.

"Are you sure?"

"Edward, would I risk my most lucrative assets?" Aro asked, a creepy smile on his face.

Emmet and Jazz chose to leave with Aro, but the girls were exhausted. Rosalie promised to let Renee drive her home in the Beemer, since Renee had to pick her car up there anyway, which left me with Bella and Alice.

"Don't…mind…me…" Alice yawned from the backseat, where she was curled up in the fetal position. "Just wake me up when we get home." I could hear the subtle sound of her snoring before we even made it out of the parking lot. It was quiet, but she hummed just a little on every exhale. In fact, if I wasn't careful, the rhythmic sound was enough to lull me to sleep on the ride home.

"Don't worry," Bella yawned so deeply that I was afraid she would dislocate her jaw, "I'll stay awake with you."

"Babe, you're exhausted. Why don't you put your seat back and relax – I'll be fine." I assured her.

She yawned once more, turning her back to the passenger door as she curled herself around the stuffed puppy she'd won at the fair earlier. "Are you sure? It's a long ride home-"

"I'm positive." I even slipped in the cd of my old piano recital, knowing that it tended to have a relaxing effect on her. In no time, it was just me, my thoughts and two sleeping rock divas.

I hated waking them up when we got home, but Bella still had one more birthday present coming to her, and I knew that Alice wouldn't want to go to bed without cleaning herself up first. I half carried both of them inside and got the pixie settled into her room before carrying Bella the rest of the way to bed.

"Get ready, cuz I – " Bella yawned as I closed our bedroom door, "am going to rock your world."

"Is that so?" I asked, moving to the foot of our bed and taking off her shoes.

She nodded lazily. "Yep. S'time for birthday sex." She mumbled, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Well then, harlot, I have one more birthday present for you." I whispered, removing her pantyhose.

"Mmm…yeah, give me my birthday present." She slurred, attempting to sound seductive, though her eyes were already closed.

"Next weekend, I'm taking you to Seattle to meet my family." I was massaging her feet now, unsure if she would remember any of this tomorrow. Yet, her eyes opened up, although sleepy, and looked at me with lazy excitement. "Really? M'gonna meet them?" She asked, struggling to sit up.

"Yep. We're driving up Saturday morning and we'll come back Saturday afternoon in time for the next performance. It's not much, but it's all I could work out on short notice."

She pulled her feet up beneath her, crawling on her knees toward me, kissing me deeply and languidly. "I'm gonna meet your parents." She sighed as she ran her hands through my hair. I cupped her face, just enjoying kissing her slowly, taking my time with it. As her lips moved down towards my throat, her teeth working my earlobe and her tongue teasing along my jaw, I wrapped my arms around her, my fingers working my way into her hair, and laid her back gently upon our pillows. We kissed for what felt like an eternity, like two teenagers just learning about love, too nervous to really explore one another.

I tilted her chin up with my nose and kissed along her elegant throat, my hand roaming over her tight stomach until my hand engulfed her tiny waist. I nipped at her collarbone before slipping my hand just under the waist band of her skirt, my fingers exploring the soft skin of her hip. "Bella…" I moaned, deep and throaty.

When she remained still and silent, I looked up to find that she was already sound asleep.

I rolled onto my back and sighed, saddened that I had gotten my hopes up. But, with a woman that beautiful and content by your side, it's impossible to stay aggravated.

I rolled back onto my side, pulling her closer to me until I could feel her breath on my shoulder.

"Happy birthday, beautiful. Sweet dreams."

**A/N:** _So, what do you think? Should Bella tell Edward about her rendezvous with Caius before they all start to work together? 15 reviews should do the trick. And, if you're curious about some of the bands original songs, you can get a feel for three of them on YouTube by searching for IAmAutumDawn._


	7. Why

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. But I'm a dirty old woman who did dirty things with her wholesome heroine and hero. And I liked it!**_

**Warning:**_** There be nothing tart in these here pages…**_

**Approx:**_**10 Pages/**____**3,860 Words**_

**7-Why**

"Did you grab the gift?" She hollered at me as I was locking the door.

"I thought you had it?"

"No, it's on the bedroom dresser. Please?" She asked, slipping into the passenger seat and pulling the visor down.

"Shit." I cursed, unlocking the door and dashing back inside.

"Don't be late for the show tonight!" Alice yelled at me as I raced past her in the kitchen.

I didn't pause, just lunged for the bedroom. "Don't worry, I'll have her there on time."

"What?!" She yelled after me.

With the gift bag in hand, I jogged out past the kitchen. "I said don't worry, we'll be on time."

"Have fun!"

"Don't forget, we still have to get gas!" Bella called out the moment I turned to lock the apartment door.

"I have't forgotten."

It was the truth. I hadn't forgotten. But, Bella woke up feeling nauseas and decided to take a nap then, when she overslept, I didn't have the heart to wake her up.

"Are you sure you're feeling well enough to do this?"

"I feel fine, now. Breakfast just didn't sit well with me for some reason."

With the gift in the backseat and Bella applying lipstick in the passenger seat, I headed out to the Quileute Reservation for Jacob and Renesmee's engagement party. We figured we could get there in time to spend a couple of hours before we had to turn around and make the hour and a half drive to Port Angeles to get ready for the show.

Once gassed up, we made pretty good time along the 101.

"What's that?" Bella asked, pointing at something in the distance.

I squinted, trying to make it out. "I don't know, I can't tell."

"Slow down a little." She instructed, taking off her seatbelt and scooting forward, trying to make it out. "It's an animal. I think its hurt."

By now, I was close enough to recognize the animal's limp as well. "I think it's some kind of dog."

"Can we pick him up, babe? Please? I don't want to leave him out here, hurt. Plus, it's going to rain." She pleaded.

"I know, but what are we going to do with him? We're going to an engagement party now and then straight to the bar." Plus, I didn't say it out loud but the thought of putting a dirty, wet dog in my car for long distances wasn't very appealing.

"Jake and Nessie won't mind. They're animal lovers too. They'll understand. We'll just leave the party a little sooner than expected so that we can stop by the Vet's office in Forks." I snorted at how she made it all sound so logical and easy.

I turned to see her pouting at me, her big brown eyes as wide as saucers and pleading, and I knew I was done for as I pulled the car to the side of the road, just to watch her face light up as she bounced in her seat. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The car hadn't even come to a complete stop before she bounded out the door toward the injured dog.

With the car in park and the flashers on, I got out and walked over as well.

"It's a Beagle!" She called over her shoulder, preparing to pick the dirty dog up and hold it, regardless of the dress she was wearing.

"Bella, wait. You're gonna mess up your outfit." I yelled out, picking up my pace.

"He's just a puppy and he's hurt. He needs to be held, Edward." She yelled back.

"Dammit, will you just wait a minute?" I was only a couple of feet away but, as I got close enough to see over her shoulder – he was just the smallest, cutest, dirtiest animal I had ever seen and – like Bella, I was instantly in love. He was just like the puppy I had always wanted as a kid. But, with Bella going all googly-eyed over him, one of us had to remain reasonable. "Here, would you hold my jacket for a minute?" I asked, slipping it off.

She stood up from her crouch, reaching out for it. "What are you doing?"

"Well, the puppy needs to be held and we need to look presentable, so I'm doing the next best thing." I loosened my tie, pulled my shirt out from my slacks and began unbuttoning it.

Bella cocked an eyebrow at me. "We're…" she swallowed, "gonna do a striptease for the injured puppy?"

It was nice to know that taking off my clothes was still enough of a distraction for her. "No Bella, my plan is to take off my clothes in order to lure you back to the car and forget this nonsense." I snarked.

She didn't buy it for a minute. "I saw your face, Edward Cullen. You want to help this puppy as badly as I do."

"Which is why I'm giving you my undershirt to wrap him in." I explained, handing over my button up as I peeled my t-shirt over my head.

Bella's face lit up once more, as if I had just promised her the moon and stars.

Now completely shirtless, the first of the cold rainy mist began to fall, quickly coating my skin. I reached out for my shirt and jacket as Bella pouted once again.

"What now?" I asked.

"Do you _have_ to put your clothes back on?" She teased. "You're just so beautiful, it's a shame to see this all get covered up."

"I'm a man, dammit. Men are not beautiful. Handsome, hot, sexy – these are all acceptable. Beautiful is not." I demanded, my chin up proudly.

"Oooh, Edward…" She cooed. "C'mon, baby…you have to know you're pretty."

"Pretty?! Unacceptable! Now, can I _please_ have my clothes, it's getting cold." I shivered, once again reaching out for my shirt, but she held them away from me, stepping closer to circle one of my hardened nipples with her fingertips and licking her lips.

"I can see that."

The puppy whined.

"The puppy needs you and we don't have time for a quickie with the puppy in the backseat, so will you please behave yourself woman!" I stomped my foot indignantly, just to play around with her. She pecked me quickly on the lips before finally releasing my clothes and turning her attention back to the Beagle.

I dressed hurriedly as I walked back to the car, not bothering to tuck in my shirt or adjust my tie. I figured I could straighten myself out after we parked on the rez. Bella was right on my heels, the puppy coddled in my shirt against her breast.

_Lucky dog._

Jacob was outside wearing a suit and tie, red Dixie cup in his hand as we pulled up to Sam and Emily's. "Hey man! Nice of you to finally make it." He greeted us, taking Renesmee's hand and walking her over.

"Sorry about that, it's been a chaotic day." I explained with a glance toward the passenger side of the car where Bella was standing up, still clutching the puppy tightly to her chest.

"Oh my God, he's so cute!" Renesmee instantly released Jacob's hand and raced around the car, oohing and awing with Bella over the little hitchhiker.

"This is not going to work out well for us, Ed." Jacob joked, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Tell me about it. I already gave the little guy the shirt off my back!"

"Come over here, you have to see this little puppy!" Renesmee called out to Emily, who was welcoming another guest on her front porch.

Within moments, all thoughts of engagements and rings and suits and ties were forgotten as Emily hurried Bella and Renesmee into the house to take a look at the puppy's paw and clean him up.

"You're girlfriend just stole my fiancée and hostess at my own engagement party. That's not right, man." Jacob critiqued, shaking his head.

"Actually, your hostess and fiancée just stole my woman and my dog. I think we're even." I joked, punching him in the arm.

"I'm glad you came, there's a juvenile delinquent inside who's been practicing on the Wii all morning, just waiting to kick your ass." He laughed.

"Seth's inside?"

"Yep, and he's been looking at the clock every five minutes waiting for you to get here."

I took off my jacket, flung it over my shoulder and rolled up my sleeves, pretending to stretch my arms and hands out. "Bring it on."

"Oh, it's already been brung." Seth yelled out from the front door, a white controller in his hand. "Brought? Broughten? Oh, whatever…Damn, Ed – you drive as slow as you play!" He gave me a big, devilish grin as I stepped up onto the porch and handed me the second controller. "So, which white guy sport should I beat you at this time? Tennis? Bowling? Nascar?"

"If you got bowling, then I'm definitely taking you down." I challenged, laying my jacket over the arm of the couch and taking my position in front of the television. Luckily, the other familiar faces all took turns coming over to say hi, waiting for opportune moments to squeeze in a handshake or a hug while Seth pulverized me in every game.

"Doesn't look like you're doing so well." Bella said over my shoulder just as I rolled a gutterball.

"Wow, thanks for that wonderful vouch of support." I answered, turning around to see the puppy in Bella's arms, clean, sound asleep and smelling of coconut.

"Emily and Nessie helped me bathe her." She smiled, looking down at the tiny creature adoringly.

"Her?"

"Yup." She smiled proudly. "Speaking of which, we need to get going if we're going to make it to the vet's office before the show."

"Aww, do I hafta?" I whined dramatically.

"Well, we can stay long enough for Seth to finish kicking your ass, I s'pose."

"Yesss!" He hissed, earning his third strike in a row.

"Who's side are you on, anyway?" I asked, sticking my tongue out at her.

"C'mon, Ed – you've got three more frames before I can figure out how badly you lost." Seth teased.

I scowled at him, centered myself and did my best to get a strike.

"OoOOoOoh, you hit some of the pins this time!" He joked.

"Man, I'm seriously considering just physically beating you with this controller." I threatened, lining up for my second ball.

"That's about the only way you _could_ beat me." He fired back.

Needless to say, I once again walked out of the house a loser, but more determined than ever to go out and buy a Wii system, just so that I could practice.

Jacob and Renesmee went with us as we took the puppy for a walk before heading back out on the road. Luckily, Bella could tell I was a little nervous about her having an accident in the car, even without me voicing it. Emily had been kind enough to throw my undershirt in the wash during our visit, so I was able to put it back on before we left, and Sam gave us a towel to wrap the puppy in until we got back home.

It was hard to see how quickly Bella was bonding with the dog. "Babe," I began, afraid to bring it up, "you know we can't keep it, right?"

Her eyes shot quickly to mine, panic already setting in. "Why not?"

"Well, first of all, we don't know if he belongs to somebody else."

She hugged the puppy protectively. "_She_ was out in the middle of nowhere, Edward. No one even lives that far out."

"Could have been a tourist. A camper. A hunter. She looks like a pure breed, so it's unlikely that she was a stray. Hunters are known to start bringing their puppy's out early to train them."

"But she didn't even have a collar."

"Most people chip their animals now. The vet should be able to tell us."

"Well then, if that's the only reason, all we have to do is wait for the vet-"

"What about Alice?" I interrupted. "Do you even know how she would feel about having a dog in the house? Does the landlord even allow dogs?"

"Apartment B has three cats." She mumbled, rubbing noses with the puppy.

"Look, I just don't want to see you get hurt if – _for some reason_ – we can't keep her." I offered softly, reaching over to rub her thigh soothingly.

"I don't want to think about it till we hear what the vet says." She mumbled, staring out the passenger side window, almost unwilling to look at me.

The remainder of the drive was long, silent and rather awkward. It took us a good 30 minutes to get to Forks Animal Hospital where Dr. Molina brought us straight in. As badly as Bella wanted to stay with the puppy, we only had an hour to make the 57 mile drive to the bar, and there was no way we were going to make our standard 6:00 call time.

Alice was going to be _pissed._

So, with Dr. Molina agreeing to call Bella's cell with updates, we left the Beagle pup in his hands and headed towards the bar.

Sadly, this drive was just as silent and awkward, but more than twice as long.

"Are you okay?" I gave in and asked about half way there.

She shrugged, continuing to stare out the window.

"Bella, what's going on? Talk to me."

"I'm fine, I'm just worried about the dog." She mumbled, waving me off.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." I assured her.

"Whatever." She shrugged again, resuming the silence.

I gave up. Although we had only been together a couple of months, Bella and I already had a history of communication problems and I had no idea how to make them any better. I could only hope – given some time and some space – that she'd come around to telling me what was bothering her. I knew the puppy had something to do with it, but I really couldn't imagine that that was all there was to it.

I loved her, but Bella had this way of connecting pieces that I just couldn't connect.

And about 45 minutes in to a painfully silent ride, I really, really wish I could solve the damn puzzle so that I could figure out what in the world we were apparently fighting for.

Instead, I rode out the painful last half hour in a daze – my mind preoccupied with Bella and puppies and music videos and record executives and dwindling bank accounts. I parked behind the bar and Bella was soundlessly up and out of the car, not even waiting for me as she hurried into the rear entrance.

I told myself it was just because we were late.

I was lying.

"Liar!" Alice yelled as she raced around Bella, quickly pinning up her hair.

"I'm sorry, Alice –" I began, but she was having none of it.

"Half an hour, Edward! And Bella, why is your hair wet?"

"It's drizzling outside, Al." Bella said, nearly lifeless.

"Ugh, nothing I can do about it now." Alice complained, fastening it back into a sloppy looking, loose up-do. "Jazz, Emmet, do you mind waiting outside for a moment? Ed, I need your help getting her dressed while I do her make-up."

I swallowed, really not wanting the awkward task of undressing and redressing my girlfriend while she wouldn't even look at me. "Wouldn't Rosalie be better at helping?"

"Seriously, Edward, you think Rosalie is better at undressing your girlfriend than you are?" Alice tsk'd.

Behind me, Rosalie snickered. "I gotta straighten up her hair."

"I thought Alice just did her hair." I asked.

Rosalie and Alice both laughed at that one.

"She was just pinning it out of the way so she could start on Bella's make-up. Now, grab the red wrap-around blouse and the ripped skinny jeans." Rosalie instructed.

I looked to Emmet and Jasper, my eyes desperate and pleading, but the bastards just smiled and waved at me as they casually headed out the door.

"Which one is the wrap it?" I asked, completely out of my element.

"Red!" They all shouted at me in unison.

Right, she had said red, hadn't she? Luckily, "ripped", "skinny" and "jeans" were all much more descriptive and, after thumbing through a quarter of the rack, I was able to find what I was looking for.

"Okay Bella, stand." Alice instructed, putting down her make-up brush long enough to back up to the make-up counter and hop up onto it. Bella took the requisite three steps forward as Alice resumed applying some kind of power to her face. "There you go, Edward. You should be able to unzip her – Rosalie will just work around you."

"Are you shitting me?" I asked, all kinds of uncomfortable in the situation.

"Just do it!" They all shouted at me.

"Twenty minutes and she still has to do warm-ups." Rosalie informed.

I was literally trembling from anxiety as I unzipped Bella's pink dress all the way down to her ass, slipping the dress off her shoulders so that it pooled at her feet.

"Good, you wore the black bra. I was betting on that." Alice quipped as she applied some sort of gold powder to Bella's eyes.

"Edward, the red shirt. It literally goes on Bella's shoulder like a button up." Rosalie instructed, twisting up a tendril of Bella's hair. With her dress still gathered at her toes, I slipped the red material over Bella's shoulders before looking to Rosalie for further guidance. "Right, now squeeze under Alice's arms and grab the ends of the shirt – they look sort of like a loose belt." Rosalie described. "Okay, you're going to twist the ends together once before wrapping them around Bella's waist."

"What?!" I asked, totally out of my element. Couldn't we have just put her in a t-shirt tonight, for God's sake?

"Twist the ends together once, so that each piece is going back the way it came."

I did my best to twist them together, growling when it didn't look right at all.

Bella stilled my hands as I looked up and her eyes were sorrowful and distant as she crisscrossed the pieces of fabric, making perfect sense of Rosalie's instructions. With each piece going back in the direction from whence it came, Rosalie instructed me to move back around to Bella's backside.

"Okay, this part is easy. Just tie it in a knot. I'll do the bow once I'm done with her hair." Rosalie advised.

With the knot done, Alice told me to back up for a minute, moving Bella back into the make-up chair before she started applying make-up to Bella's eyelashes. "Can you pick up her dress please, Edward?" Alice asked.

I had a feeling they were almost done with her make-up and hair because things felt just a little less chaotic as I picked her dress up off the floor and returned it to a hanger.

"I take it you know how to help her put her pants on…it's just the reverse of what you usually do." Rosalie snickered.

"Ha ha Rose." I stuck my tongue out at her as she laughed. This time, Alice moved to the side of Bella as I crouched down in front of her, guiding her feet one by one into the jeans and maneuvering her toes past the series of rips in the denim until they were through the cuffs in the bottom. I worked the fabric up her legs until they were bunched as high up her thighs as they would go.

"She'll pull them up once she stands again. Last thing – can you slip the sparkly red heels on her feet? I think we're almost done." Alice asked as she applied a vibrant red gloss to Bella's perfect lips.

Suddenly, as I slipped her toes into her shoes, I missed her. Although she was right in front of me, she had been missing all afternoon and her distant nearness made my heart hurt. So, once my job was done and Rosalie and Alice excused me, I leaned into my girl and whispered "I love you" in her ear. Then, with a sweet kiss on her cheek, I told her to break a leg and exited the dressing room.

The evening's show went well, if not perhaps a little more low key than usual, and Bella had successfully avoided me for pretty much the entire night. With Alice in the backseat for the long ride home, I doubted I was going to get much more out of her, so I just settled into my role as chauffeur.

"Any news from the vet?" I asked from behind the wheel.

"I have a voicemail, but I haven't checked it yet. I'll call it when I get home." Bella answered blankly.

"What vet?" Alice asked from the backseat.

"Oh, you didn't tell her?" I asked Bella, who simply shrugged in response.

"Not yet. Haven't had time."

"We found a puppy on the side of the 101 earlier." I explained, making eye contact with Alice in the rearview mirror.

"Awww…what kind?" She cooed.

"A female beagle. The vet assumes she's about two months old."

"She sounds so cute!" Alice shrieked. "What happened, why is she at the vet?"

"Well, she was really dirty when we found her, and she had a limp with her front left paw." I answered. "Bella cleaned her up at Emily's house, but we took her to get her foot checked out and to make sure she was okay."

"Did she have a collar? If not, you guys are going to keep her, right?" She asked anxiously, her upper body wedged between the driver's seat and the passenger seat.

"Well, she didn't have a collar, but she might be chipped. Still – if she didn't have an owner…you'd want us to keep her?"

"Are you kidding me? I've always wanted a little puppy! My mom was always a cat person and – cats are cool – but there's nothing like having a little puppy running up to you, wagging its tail as you get home." She said dreamily.

"Does your lease say anything about pets?"

"Well, I think it has to be a small dog, under a certain weight, and we have to pay some kind of deposit to cover any possible damages, but it's totally doable." She explained.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow? It's late and I just kind of want to go home and go to sleep." Bella asked, leaning her head against the window as she pulled my jacket up around her and closed her eyes.

I was surprised – I thought she'd be jumping for joy to hear that all the odds were turning up in our favor. "Are you okay? Not feeling sick again, are you?" I asked, reaching over to caress her cheek and check for fever.

"Just tired." She mumbled.

A moment later, she appeared as if she was sleeping, but I could tell she was faking it.

I just didn't know why.

**A/N:** Is this the PMS that Edward was warned about? What's got Bella so pissed off? Find pictures of the outfit that Edward dressed Bella in on my Facebook Page – just search for IAmAutumnDawn!


	8. Just Go With It

**Disclaimer:**_**The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I just like seeing how many kama sutra positions I can get her wholesome little characters into.**_

**Warning:**_** Lemon Tease**_

**Approx:**_**8 Pages/**____**3,186 Words**_

**8 – Just Go With It**

By the time we got home Sunday night, Bella padded into the apartment, complaining that she was once again feeling nauseas. I had to admit, as hard as she was trying to avoid me, I had my doubts that she was really feeling sick at all.

Still, I didn't bother her to check her messages nor did I ask if she knew how the Beagle pup was doing. Instead, she showered, turned off our bedroom light and plopped into bed in silence, smelling like strawberries.

By the time I took my own shower and joined her in bed, she was out cold.

She slept in Monday morning, so I took the opportunity to call the vet's office and check myself.

"Hi Mr. Cullen – I was hoping I would hear from one of you this morning." The doctor greeted.

"How's our little girl doing, Dr. Molina?" I slipped out the front door onto our stoop, wrapping my free arm around myself in defense against the brisk morning chill.

"The good news is that it's nothing serious, she just had a plant burr stuck between the pads of her front left paw. We removed it and sterilized the area, so she should be just fine."

"Excellent." I hyped, already beginning to tremble.

"Now, I was unable to find a chip so, are you and Miss Swan planning to keep the dog? If so, I would suggest allowing us to administer the first round of vaccines while we have her here and doing a proper flea and tick dip before you take her home." He advised.

By the time we arranged pricing and pick up in an hour, I went back inside to find Bella in the kitchen making a smoothie.

"G'morning babe!" I greeted, looking forward to giving her the good news.

"Morning." She replied, still a little cold.

I slipped into the kitchen behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and nuzzling into her neck. "Good news. The puppy's ours! I'm bringing her home in an hour." I enthused, hoping that it would cheer her up.

"We can't keep her, Edward." She said.

"No, it's cool. You heard Alice – she's fine with it and I can cover the deposit. Plus, the vet just confirmed that she's not chipped, so there's nothing stopping us from keeping her-"

"I don't want her." Bella interrupted, turning on me.

"Babe?" I asked, reaching out to cup her cheek, "What's wrong?"

She shrugged away from me. "I just don't want the damn dog, okay?" She cursed, slamming down her glass and spilling its viscous green contents over the counter. "Dammit!"

I knocked her elbow as we both reached for the paper towels.

"I can clean up my own mess, Edward." She scowled, tearing off a few sheets and dabbing at the counter.

"Bella, I'm trying to give you some space for whatever's bothering you but, this is ridiculous! How long are you going to stay mad at me without telling me what I did wrong?" I raised my voice in frustration.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Alice asked from the doorway to her bedroom, squinting her eyes against the light.

"I don't want to keep Spike, okay? Take her to the shelter so someone else can get her. Someone who wants her alright?" Bella yacked, instantly covering her mouth as she raced to the bathroom.

"What the hell?" Alice chimed again, stepping forward to run after her.

I held my hand out to stop her before following Bella into the bathroom where she was dry heaving into the toilet bowl. I sat on the edge of the tub and held back her hair as she hugged the toilet, struggling with the contents of her stomach. Alice brought in a glass of water, but otherwise left us.

After a good five or ten minutes of dry heaving, she finally sat back, leaning against the wall – her face pale and covered in sweat with tears streaming down her face. I couldn't, however, tell if she was crying or if they were just a side effect of the nausea.

I grabbed a clip from beside the sink and clipped her hair up before wetting a cloth with cool water, wringing it out and wiping off her face.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, leaning into my hand.

Instinctually, I wanted to reply that it was okay…but then I realized that she hadn't said what she was sorry for and that saying it was okay would only be an empty gesture. Instead, I remained silent and ran the cool cloth over her throat and the back of her neck.

"Do you want to tell me what's on your mind?" I asked tentatively.

She remained silent for a moment, shifting her body so that she was now leaning between my legs with her head resting against my knee. "I just thought she was the one."

"The one?"

She shrugged. "Spike."

I struggled to make sense of what the name of my imaginary childhood pet had to do with anything.

"You said you wanted it all with me. The house. The picket fence. The 2.5 kids. And even a dog named Spike." She clarified, reminding me what I had said the day I took the stage and admitted to a room full of strangers that I was in love with her. "I just thought we had found our Spike."

I had never imagined Spike being a girl but, given the injury to her paw, it all kind of made sense. "So, what changed your mind?"

She shrugged again. "It felt like you didn't want her, or you weren't ready."

"Why would you think that?"

"It just felt like, from the beginning, that you were making excuses not to keep her. I don't want you to get her for me…I wanted her to be ours, for us to have something and care for something together."

"Bella, I was just trying to be realistic, baby." I coaxed her chin up so that she would look at me. "She's adorable but, you were in love with her so instantly…I just didn't want you to get your hopes up until I knew we were in the clear. How could I not love that sweet little puppy face?" I asked with a laugh.

"So, you really want her? You're not just saying that to make me happy?"

I laughed harder at that one. "Who was the one who asked for a dog named Spike in the first place? You'll just be lucky if I decide to share her with you." I teased, pinching her nose playfully. "Now, are you feeling better?"

She stared at the toilet bowl for a minute, as if pondering before nodding her head. "I think I was just stressed out. Stupid girly hormones." She whined.

"Well, if you're done being sick, I thought you might like to go with me to pick up our puppy."

"Really?!" She asked, her eyes lighting up and her face getting just a little more color.

"Dr. Molina said he'd be done with her in an hour."

I helped her to her feet before she bounded out of the bathroom shouting "We're getting a puppy!"

By the time I joined her in the living room, she and Alice were doing an uncoordinated happy dance – hands joined as they bounced up and down excitedly.

I had to say, it wasn't a bad view.

By noon, Bella walked into our apartment carrying Spike while I unloaded the $300 worth of puppy supplies from Pet Palace. I couldn't even blame the shopping spree on Bella – I was the one snatching things and throwing them into the cart. Food, squeaky toys, non-squeaky toys, chew toys, rawhide, dog bones and miscellaneous treats and biscuits, a food bowl and water bowl, pup-pee pads until she got used to going for walks, not to mention the collar and tag and leash for when we took her on walks. There was the brush and a flea comb so that we could check her frequently, as well as a dog bed and a crate to lock her up when we absolutely had no other choice. Most importantly was the "Beagle Bible" – a dictionary sized book that told us what kind of health conditions to look out for, what vaccinations and treatments were needed for each stage of her life, as well as what to expect while raising a Beagle (I prayed she didn't bay as frequently as the book suggested she might or we might have some trouble with the neighbors.)

I was going to be the best damn dog dad…I mean owner…possible.

As for the "Dad" thing – that was Bella's fault. The moment she had Spike back in her arms, she began telling her how much "Mommy" loved her and how well "Daddy" was going to take care of her. At the moment, Spike was being introduced to "Auntie Alice".

This pup was going to be spoiled rotten.

The three of us spent most of the afternoon doting on her endlessly between finding places for all of her new stuff. When it came time for them to head to work, Bella and Alice both cooed at her, each going back for just "one more sweet little puppy kiss".

I settled onto the couch with Bella's laptop in hand to check if Carlisle had had any luck with the e-mail writing campaign and, in no time, Spike was nudging my arm and whining, already starved for more attention. So, I put the laptop away, turned on the tv and allowed her to curl up into my lap where she fell fast asleep.

Soon, I was passed out as well, dreaming of picket fences and babies and things that I had never dreamed about before. Bella held a baby – that same adoring face I had seen earlier when she looked at Spike – and it had her chocolate brown eyes and my copper hair. I had never before felt such overwhelming pride, joy and love. Everything I had was wrapped up in Bella and this little human being. Then Spike ran up from behind me…I mean, she was older, but I had to assume that it was her, and there were a dozen or so Beagle puppies running after her. And, when I looked back at Bella, her stomach was swollen – more babies on the way – and she looked tired and miserable. Suddenly, the front door to our home opened up and dozens of children came running out, all screaming "Daddy! Daddy!" as they tugged and pulled at me. Right before my eyes, our pristine home started decaying – the paint peeling off rapidly, revealing rotting wood and rats, cracked windows and a sagging roof. "You never even married me." Bella accused, now holding two more infants, her belly still swollen with more. "Stop being a dead beat and marry me, Edward." She accused. My name echoed over and over until I jumped up with a start, Spike yelping in my lap.

"Edward." Bella called, sitting down beside me. "Are you okay, babe? You were screaming."

"Yeah." I swallowed. "Just a dream. A nightmare." I corrected.

"Nightmare?" She asked, looking as if she was hurt.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be fine." I answered, wiping my eyes to clear away the remnants of my imagined failure as a father and husband.

"You're sure you want to keep Spike, right Edward?" She asked, looking at me speculatively.

"Of course, babe. Seriously, I'm fine – I just should have avoided the left over Chinese for dinner." I had learned a long time ago that sleeping on a full stomach brought on terrible dreams. "How long have you been home?"

"We just got in. I could hear you screaming from outside – you scared the shit out of me!" She exclaimed, grabbing her heart with one hand as she caressed my face with the other.

"Sorry." Was all I could muster with a little apologetic shrug.

"Good, now give me my puppy." She teased, reaching over to pick up our little girl, but I grabbed her first.

"_Your_ puppy?" I teased, pulling Spike out of Bella's reach.

"Edward!" She yelled, attempting to climb on top of me as we pretended to struggle over her, Spike oblivious and happy just to be held.

We attempted to put her in her crate that night, to set boundaries as the Beagle Bible said we should…but when she was still whining at three in the morning, we simply couldn't take it anymore.

"Just for tonight?" Bella whimpered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Alright, but _just_ for tonight. Otherwise, we're never going to be able to train her." I agreed.

"Yee!" Bella squeeked, hopping out of bed to let Spike out of her crate. She slipped under the covers a moment later as Spike padded around on top of our sheets, making herself comfortable. I reached over to spoon Bella, Spike at our heels…but soon, the whimpering started all over again.

"Aw, c'mon Spike." I huffed in exasperation. "Go to sleep."

She whimpered louder in response.

"What do you want, girl?"

She pushed her nose in between our legs, as if trying to separate us. I rolled over a little and sat up, trying to see what she was pawing at and – in no time - she trotted up into the open space between Bella and I, circling twice before plopping down, perfectly content.

"Oh, this is not going to do at all." I moaned.

"Just for tonight." Bella reminded me.

I sighed, too tired to fight the good fight any longer. With my arm circled around the warm little bundle of fur, I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up with whatever it was that had been plaguing Bella the past few days.

I knew Bella was awake about an hour later when Spike pawed at the bathroom door, nuzzling it open and coming in to sit beside me on the bathroom floor.

"Aw, babe…" Bella crooned as she squeezed past me, wetting a cool cloth as I had done for her. "Think it was the Chinese again?"

At the mention of it, my stomach dry-heaved violently as I hugged the toilet for dear life. The lurching scared Spike, who was now curled up in the corner near the bathtub by Bella's feet, shaking and whimpering.

"I'll be fine. Just take care of Spike. She probably needs to go out." I rasped, breathing in deeply and regretting the taste of my own breath.

"Are you sure?" She asked, her voice dripping with sympathy as she caressed my sweaty hair with the cloth.

It was all I could do just to nod.

"Okay, babe – but I'm just going to walk her out front and I'll be right back if you need me." She promised. "Wanna go for a walk, Spike?" She asked excitedly as Spike jumped up, pawing at Bella's calf. "C'mon girl, let's go for a walk." Bella squeezed past me once more as Spike eagerly followed.

I sat on the bathroom floor a moment longer, happy to discover that the worst had apparently passed, but still not too eager to eat anything. Instead, I stood up and brushed my teeth, gargling twice in an attempt to clear the wretched taste from my mouth. True to her word, Bella checked back in on me with a glass of water a moment later just as I was stepping into the shower. I assured her I was fine and that I just wanted to wash up real quick.

Without any other pressing plans, Bella insisted that I take it easy for the day, going out of her way to wait on me, hand and foot. I didn't get sick often but, when I did, it tended to completely wipe me out. Bella assured me that it was a man thing; although her father rarely called out of work, he usually behaved as if he was dying when he did. I tried not to assume that she was calling us both big babies.

I usually waited up for her to come home from work, but by 8:30, I was already lolling over on the couch, fighting off sleep the best I could. I gave in by nine, assuming that it was for the best, and didn't even bother putting Spike in her crate.

I just wasn't up for the fight.

By Wednesday, I was on the mend, but Alice had fallen victim to the stomach bug that we were all passing around. Jam Day was cancelled as we quarantined our apartment, unwilling to spread it to the rest of the band. Jazz had nearly insisted on coming over to take care of her, but Bella and I assured him it was for the best to just let us nurse her for the day. Still, it wasn't until Alice got on the phone and told him not to come over that he finally listened.

Having fully recovered, I took over mending Alice back to health as Bella went off to work, preparing her soup in bed.

"Will you stay and watch a movie with me?" She asked, sounding pitiful.

As far as romantic comedies went, she could have done worse than Bridesmaids, so I was content to climb in on top of the covers and keep her company. We paused the movie while I cleaned up the dishes and by the time I returned, Alice was curled up around Spike – both of them fast asleep.

With Alice well watched after and Spike happy and peaceful, I took advantage of the opportunity to take care of some e-mails and phone calls I had been slacking on.

By the time Bella was home, I had arrangements for our music video scheduled to shoot the following week with Caius videotaping and Laurent and Max helping with lights and sound, absolutely free of charge.

"So let me get this straight – you took care of our puppy and our sick roommate, plus you made all the arrangements for the music video, is that right?" She asked, peeling off her uniform and tossing it into the chair.

"Um, yeah, I guess." I answered, admiring her in nothing but her bra and panties.

"And now, our roommate and our puppy are asleep in the other room, completely oblivious to anything we do?"

I swallowed, my body warming at the insinuation. "Um…yeah?"

She ran towards me unexpectedly, jumping up into my arms and knocking me back onto the bed as we both started cracking up laughing.

As she straddled my hips, she reached down, grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it upwards, though I wasn't quite ready and ended up getting tangled up in the neck and sleeves, struggling to get free.

Once out of my shirt, the two of us gave in to laughter as I rolled over, flipping her onto her back and holding my torso off of her with my elbows.

"Um, this isn't going quite the way I had planned." She giggled.

"Aw, what the hell." I muttered, kissing her quickly. "Just go with it."

**A/N: **_How many of you remembered Edward mentioning "a dog named Spike" in Projects, Lessons and Love Songs? How did you feel about them getting the little Beagle pup – is she what you imagined Spike would be? Keep the reviews coming – a new chapter is on it's way! Meanwhile, find more pictures on my Facebook Page at IAmAutumnDawn!_


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